Our Goal

STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Within the Green Coffee Industry

At John Burton Ltd, we aim to build a culture of sustainability and waste reduction. We know that we cannot do this alone, and need our suppliers and customers to be on board with us to create a sustainable supply chain.

For John Burton Ltd, it is more than just a stance, but a way in which we do business through four pillars of sustainable sourcing; cultural, social, environmental and economic. We work to provide transparency and traceability of our green coffee beans to increase consumer understanding and awareness.

Cultural

Through our green coffee suppliers and the continuous support of purchasing their coffee, we help to protect and value the diversity through which communities keep their identity and traditions across generations. We purchase green coffee from 23 countries throughout the coffee belt, and in doing this, support hundreds of communities.

Social

We work with reputable and respectable suppliers, who we have known and purchased from for many years. They engage with the coffee farmers, provide training in good agricultural practices, provide access to inputs and credit as well as better plant stock and farming technologies. This encourages the farmers to improve their practices, leading to better quality coffee, and more money for the farmer.

Economic

Millions of coffee farmers worldwide depend on the profits of their hard work to provide for their families. The vast majority of coffee farming is in tropical and developing countries on relatively small farms. Processing of the cherry relies on seasonal workers to hand-pick, sort, wash, dry and mill the coffee. We support Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance; who help farmers and their businesses meet their economic needs. These organisations help secure clean water, food and shelter for the producers through various projects throughout the globe.

Environmental

Climate change has a big impact on coffee production as changes in weather patterns inhibit coffee tree wellbeing and cherry production, and encourages pests and diseases. Crop times are now changing each year due to this, and their yield is suffering.

SHIPPING

Once the coffee is ready to be shipped, it is hand loaded into the container and taken to the port. We work with shipping companies to ensure we are utilising the best route for the container to reach New Zealand. Each 20ft container is shipped as full as possible; 275 x 69-70kg sacks, 320 x 60kg sacks or 640 x 30kg sacks.

Majority of ships dock directly into Auckland, with some docking at the port of Tauranga and the containers then bought by rail to Auckland. The container is then bought by truck to our warehouse where it is unloaded before being returned to the depot.

PACKAGING

Empty jute (a natural plant fibre) sacks can be donated to companies that can use them (eg. Auckland Zoo), used as weed mats in the garden, re-purposed and turned into lamp covers, cushion covers or hats, mounted to board and hung them on the wall, made into bags, among many other suggestions.

Multi-layered polyethylene (PE) hermetic bags made to prolong the storage life of dried grains and seeds are used to keep the coffee dry and fresh during transit and storage. These are recyclable and can be collected by Rubbish Direct for re-use. Pallet wrapping can also be placed with the hermetic plastic in specific receptacles for recycling.

INTERNAL OPERATIONS AND LOGISTICS

We own our warehouse, and run it in an environmentally friendly way, using natural light and ventilation. Trucks come once a day to collect coffee for delivery, with all of the orders combined together and then sorted by region to ensure efficient and effective delivery.

We purchase good quality second hand pallets to send orders out on, which we then collect and re-use. We also use chep pallets, which are collected and re-used by the company.