Meet The Business ~ Halo Coffee
Sunday, July 26, 2020
If you're like me, then you love coffee. It is every writer's best friend and something that gets me through the day. This week, I am talking to Halo Coffee about their business! Did you know, coffee pods can take around 500 years to decompose? That is an alarming face, but Halo Coffee have set themselves on a mission to create compostable coffee pods. Forget plastic coffee pods. Let's move towards a more sustainable future!
Could you tell me a bit about Halo Coffee?
Halo Coffee are the creators of the world's first fully home compostable, Nespresso compatible coffee capsules. Halo capsules are made from sugarcane bagasse, a waste product from the sugar industry. This means that our capsules will degrade in as little as 28 days in home compost conditions. Not only are they sustainable, but Halo capsules are also filled with nothing but specialty grade coffees. This is why Halo capsules are: "The World's Best Coffees, In a Way That's Best For The World".
Why did Halo Coffee come about, and what is its mission?
Halo exists because compromise shouldn't. We are given the choice between what is best for us, and what is best for the environment. Here at Halo, we didn't see a choice at all. Of the 60 billion coffee capsules produced in 2018, the majority will end up in the oceans and landfill.
There, they will remain for up to 500 years. We didn't understand why coffee pods had to be so damaging to the environment. So we created our own. Halo's mission is to serve customers in the most sustainable and eco-friendly way possible. From our capsules, through to our packaging, everything Halo is environmentally friendly and home compostable.
What makes your coffee capsules more special from others out there?
Halo capsules are unique in two different ways:
The first way is our paper-based capsule is made from waste sugar cane fibre. Our capsules are the only pods on the market made from this material. All of the other pods are made from plastic, aluminium or bio-plastic. This means that our pods can degrade in as little as 28 days in a home composter, garden soil or when put straight into the bin. We have recently created a film to illustrate this. You can watch it here.
Halo was created because 80% of plastic and aluminium capsules will end up in landfill and the oceans where they take up to 500 years to degrade. This staggeringly high number is due to the difficulty in accessing recycling facilities that accept plastic and aluminium capsules. Bio-plastic capsules or otherwise known as "eco" capsules, will degrade in several decades in a natural environment. They almost exclusively end up in landfill and the oceans. This is because waste management facilities are unable to process this material currently. Our capsule is accepted in all waste streams. It will also degrade in cold garden soil if no other options are available. All of our packagings are also 100% home compostable.
The other way our coffee is unique is because it is specialty grade coffee in a capsule. For decades, capsules have been filled with lower grade coffee, rather than premium coffee. We didn't understand why this was the case, so we decided to fill our capsules with only the best coffees. Specialty grade coffee is graded on the SCA coffee grading scale and must achieve a minimum score of 80/100. Approximately 3% of global yield is of high enough quality to meet these criteria. It is for these two reasons that our slogan is: "The World's Best Coffees, In a Way That's Best For The World".
What are some of the top-selling/highest rated coffee pod flavours?
Coffee preferences are incredibly subjective. This is why we have a great mix of profiles and intensities! From espressos to lungos, smooth and mild to strong and full-bodied, we have a variety of coffees to meet everyone's tastes. But my personal favourite is the Three Mountain. It's incredibly easy to drink and so delicious.
Why is it important to buy compostable coffee pods, rather than plastic or recyclable?
The answer to this question is quite long. The short answer would be because plastic is polluting the planet. It is terrible for our oceans, kills wildlife and stays on this planet for years. Not only that, but production and transport pollute the air. If you'd like some more information, we have a whole page on it!
Related: Why You Should Be Wearing Sustainable Fashion
Related: Why You Should Be Wearing Sustainable Fashion
What Is your personal favourite part about working for Halo Coffee?
The best part of working at Halo is that no two days are the same! Being at a startup, everyone helps out. Working together builds an incredible camaraderie and makes for a very fun work environment!
What challenges does Halo Coffee face in today’s world?
The most difficult aspect of running a small business is cutting through the noise. The coffee pod industry is filled with loud voices and an abundance of greenwashing. This makes it quite hard to compete when there are lots of bigger powers. That is why we are trying to establish Halo as an educator in the industry. We want to be a voice of truth and transparency.
Is there anything that Halo Coffee is working towards or wanting to achieve?
We are working to achieve a better world! We want to achieve a world where transparency and honesty is the norm. We want it to be a place where consumers can make informed choices without businesses greenwashing their products to make them look better. It will take a while to get there, but we are determined to make a difference.
If you could sum Halo Coffee in 5 words, what would they be?
If we could describe Halo, it would be quality, sustainable, delectable, challenger and different.
For something many of us drink daily, it is eye-opening to see the impact that coffee pods have on the planet. It is time to make a change, and Halo offers an affordable option to do so. I have browsed their range for hours, and the flavours sound delicious, ones that will make you drool! Have you heard of Halo before? If you're looking to have a more sustainable lifestyle, don't forget to think about what you're consuming. Let me know what flavour you think sounds the best!
11 comments
I wish I liked coffee as this business sounds lovely! I can manage iced coffee but hot coffee is not for me, though my mum would love this business!
ReplyDeleteTash // A Girl with a View
Aw, I wonder if you can open the capsules and make iced coffee with them! It's a future venture otherwise! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
Wish they did pods for my Tassimo machine - at least I have somewhere to take them to recycle which is one of reasons why I bought it. Hopefully one day someone will do them though x
ReplyDeleteThat's good - maybe in the future they will extend their range. I can already think of a few things I wish they sold! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
This is such an informative post! I must see if I can purchase these in Canada!
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and comment!
DeleteEm x
Coffee pods aren't that popular here in our country but sachets also do the same bad thing to the environment. Good thing Halo has this compostable products! Hoping many coffee brands get inspiration from this.
ReplyDeletethequeensights.com
Thanks for sharing, this company the sound a great, I don't have a coffee machine, so hopefully they will make items for people without coffee machines :)
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Really nice post! I don't use pods anymore, we have switched to a French press. I was also never a really big coffee drinker and used the reusable filter pod in my machine and only used pods rarely. I'm glad I didn't participate much in this form of pollution. The planet is so much more important than our morning brew.
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