Are Low-Waste Coffee Expos a Lost Cause?

It’s no secret that the industry has a single-use waste problem—but are coffee expos particularly out of control?

BY MELINA DEVONEY
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Featured photo by Jon Tyson

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good coffee expo. But at each event, I’m overwhelmed by my outrageously high consumption of caffeine and the single-use cups that hold it. The coffee sector has laudably improved value chain sustainability and yet, each expo spotlights our failures at the consumption link. 

At this summer’s Coffee Fest in Los Angeles, I attempted to reduce my waste by carrying a mini tumbler. Yet, facing nearly 200 exhibitors, I still used plentiful single-use cups—many samples were pre-portioned; latte art can’t be poured into a used cup; and it was a pain to rinse my tumbler between every. single. booth. 

Well, I tried. 

Noah Vernick of Anomaly Coffee took his sustainability stance even farther this year. He shunned Coffee Fest to host a Low-Waste Pours event that weekend, serving coffee and food using upcycled ingredients and reusable dishware. 

I felt hypocritical going to both events. Attending the Coffee Fest panel, Beyond “Extraction”: Building a Sustainable Coffee Business made my internal conflict worse. The discussion focused on sustainability within labor, trade, and business, and I couldn’t shake the thought of convention center trash cans filling up as the panelists spoke.  

Darrell Baskin, Coffee Program Manager and Assistant Coffee Buyer at Groundwork Coffee, spoke on that panel. I followed up with him, hoping to fill the glaring gap in the discussion.

Coffee’s incessant single-use waste problem

Darrell shared my sustainability qualms: “(The biggest issues at coffee expos are) definitely the sheer volume of single-use sampling cups, food, and liquid waste dumped in a single weekend,” Darrell says. “There’s also a ton of hidden waste people don’t think about—gallons of wasted milk and coffee from dialing in machines on the fly, plus all the single-use carpet, vinyl banners, and heavy freight shipping that goes into building booths for just 2–3 days. Call it the cost of doing business to highlight outlets that generate cash flow at origin, but there is definitely such a thing as overdoing it.”

Increasingly, exhibitors use compostable and reusable materials in their booth set-ups, but their good intentions are stymied by logistics, Darrell explains. 

“The catch is venue infrastructure. A compostable cup doesn’t mean much if there is no infrastructure in place to sort those cups or transport them to the necessary composting facility. They just end up right back in the same landfill . . . reducing the entire exercise to a marketing ploy. Real impact requires not only proper venue infrastructure, but for showgoers to actually participate en masse.”

Attendees can make or break low-waste strategies

It’s old news that creating change at any link of the coffee value chain starts with consumer demand. 

“Honestly, a lot of the onus needs to fall on the attendees themselves to stop adopting that ‘when in Rome’ mentality,” Darrell says regarding our sampling frenzies. “People need to actively participate, not just wait for the show to fix it for them. More attendees need to bring their own cups.” 

It would be a significant feat if even a fraction of Coffee Fest LA’s 3,400+ attendees brought reusable dishware.  

Exhibitors should match their expo impact with their proclaimed values

“I get the desire to make a big splash with massive, fancy displays and over-the-top equipment. But at what point does necessity turn into pure excess?” Darrell asks. “We have to start weighing that show-floor vanity against our actual impact—both at origin and on the consuming end of the supply chain.” 

In Roaster’s Village, Groundwork Coffee walked the talk by leading with simplicity; their pour-over booth was modestly decorated with upcycled jute bags and succulents planted in coffee canisters. 

“Nearly everything we brought was serving its second or third purpose, aside from the coffee itself,” Darrell says. “While single-use cups are almost a necessary evil, we made sure not to bring much that wasn’t already ready for reuse.” 

Groundwork’s booth showcased brand authenticity. 

“We can’t preach about climate resilience and supporting regenerative farming at origin if we turn around and generate mountain-sized landfills at our own trade shows,” Darrell says. “If we push for better standards as an industry, venues will eventually have to adapt if we want to participate in real progress rather than just pageantries.”

Event organizers have an outsized impact on expo sustainability

According to Hailey Hayes, Event Director for Coffee Fest, the event organizers majorly reduced waste this year by foregoing show floor carpets at each of the four annual Coffee Fests. Normally, expansive square footage of carpet becomes unsightly after just one or two shows and is trashed.   

In recent years, Coffee Fest has re-used much of the exhibition signage between event locations, moved from a paper expo catalog to a mobile app, and collected donatable items that exhibitors don’t want to waste or ship back to their warehouses.  

“In each city, we work with a local food bank that comes as soon as the show floor is closed,” Hailey says. 

Still, it’s difficult for any expo to support reusable dishware. In previous years, Coffee Fest has secured sponsored reusable drinkware (I still use my Created Co. tumbler from a few years back), but it’s on the attendees to utilize them. 

“In some cities, we don’t have enough ware-washing stations and sinks for people to reuse,” Hailey says. The local health department also limits how drinkware can be re-used. 

At least by comparison, Coffee Fest has avoided the dramatic waste of other food and beverage expos—some of which have been outed with photos of overflowing trash and recycling bins. 

“The (Coffee Fest) attendees that are coming to our event are mindful of not wasting,” Hailey says. Similarly, Coffee Fest communicates its mindful sampling philosophy to exhibitors.

“We really make sure that the samples are intentional; they are a certain size. We’re not just giving away things to give away. There’s conversations when something is passed along,” Hailey adds.   

I’m hopeful someone will figure out better waste-reduction hacks for future coffee expos—perhaps even at Coffee Fest in Dallas this October.

“How cool would a ‘Bring Your Own Cup Only’ roaster’s village be?” Darrell imagines. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melina Devoney (she/her) is a barista and freelance writer in Los Angeles zeroed in on coffee and agriculture. She aims to amplify the voices of farmers and a diversity of perspectives within the coffee industry, and she’s happiest when running on wooded trails and dancing at concerts.

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