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March 31, 2008
‘Green’ beans fuel students’ foray into fair trade market

By Kelly Gray

Caffeine craving? Coffee and tea lovers now have a “fair trade” option with the Green Bean Coffee Cart.
The cart first wheeled onto Emory’s campus in February and was the idea of two anthropology students, Addie Davis and Sally Mengel. After receiving one of the annual Sustainability Incentives Grants awarded by the Office of Sustainability Initiatives, the two launched their effort to create a healthy living “vending machine” on Emory’s campus.

“We wanted to design and manage a student-run coffee cart that would be a living example of sustainability,” says Mengel. The cart represents a place where people purchasing sustainable products can be drawn in as average customers and leave as responsible citizens.

Mengel points out that minimal waste is produced by the GBCC. “Coffee grounds, tea bags and napkins are all disposed of in the composter at Cox Hall,” she says. Furthermore, the GBCC does not provide a trash can for its customers — recycling is strongly encouraged.

Customers bringing their own cup receive a discount. To advance sustainable objectives, all patrons of the GBCC receive the same size cup. “This way, people can decide how much coffee they want to take without wasting any,” says Mengel.

The GBCC did not go into business to make a profit and operates on a closed loop system. “Any income that is raised from the cart will go to support other sustainable projects on campus, like the educational food gardens and the upcoming farmers market,” says Mengel.

As of now the cart sells only coffee, tea and select baked goods. “Hopefully in the future we can start selling fair trade chocolate and other organic treats,” says Mengel. Now, wouldn’t that be sweet?