Earth Month is being celebrated at F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc., through their partnership with TerraCycle for a national recycling program which is free for consumers of Don Francisco’s Coffee and Café La Llave Espresso.
The collaboration with TerraCycle, called the Coffee Pod and Bag Recycling Program, was initiated in 2020 with the goal of making it simple for consumers of F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. to recycle their packaging and divert waste from landfills. While it first only included recycling coffee pods from Don Francisco’s and Café La Llave, F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. has now expanded the program’s qualifying products to include Don Francisco’s coffee bags. By signing up at terracycle.com, collecting coffee pods and bags, and shipping for free to TerraCycle, consumers can earn points which convert to donations towards a charity of their choosing. Furthermore, collected recyclables are converted into hard plastic which can be used for new recycled products.
The Gaviña family began producing coffee in Southern Cuba in 1870, and, after a relocation to Los Angeles, F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. was founded in 1967. They have consistently maintained the highest quality of coffee through their exclusive use of top-notch Arabica coffee beans. Additionally, their Vernon, California, roasting facility can house up to 60 million pounds of coffee, and is the site where meticulous roasting yields the prominent products that so many Gaviña coffee drinkers know and love.
Lisette Gaviña Lopez serves as Marketing Director at F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc., and is a fourth-generation coffee grower whose great-grandfather began planting coffee trees with his brother over 150 years ago. Now, Gaviña Lopez is carrying on her family’s vision through a strong maintenance of their excellence in coffee production. F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. has access to growing regions along the “Coffee Belt,” an area spanning across elevated mountain spaces near the Equator where the finest coffee beans are grown. In addition, F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. uses only the best blends and roasting techniques before sending products to Western U.S. retailers.
“What makes our company different from other roasters starts with the coffee growing regions where our coffees are grown, and also the quality specifications that we put in place for sourcing these coffees,” Gaviña Lopez said. “There are many quality grades in coffee and we select only the finest for our blends, single origins and special roasts. Then we carefully clean the coffee, roast and pack it in our zero-waste-to-landfill roaster and ship it fresh to retailers across Southern California and the West.”
Besides consistently producing first-rate coffee products, F. Gaviña & Sons, In. has concentrated on creating a model built on sustainability and philanthropy. Some partners of the company are the Hanns R. Neumann Foundation and Rothfos Corporation, with whom they’ve educated coffee growers on eco-friendly growing practices. F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. also has a national outreach program, the Direct Impact Initiative, in place to improve the socioeconomic status of farmers who work in the growing regions where their coffee beans are produced.
“My family’s legacy in coffee began as farmers in the coffee fields of Cuba,” Gaviña Lopez said. “Because of our experience as farmers, we understand the struggle of coffee producers and we also realize that coffee is not sustainable without the coffee farmer. Therefore, through our Direct Impact program we invest back into the coffee growing communities that we purchase coffee from providing technical farming assistance and education with the intention of improving the overall quality of life of the coffee farmer.”
This initiative, which was implemented in 2015, also focuses on investing in the coffee-growing communities where F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. coffee is sourced, and reducing the environmental impact of their work through a zero-waste-to-landfill roaster.
“Because we are a family business, we have a long-term view on our business and are always thinking about the next generation,” Gaviña Lopez said. “For this reason, we initiated our Direct Impact program with the commitment to provide premium coffee with a greener footprint. This is our commitment to sustainability with the goal of not sacrificing the needs of future generations to satisfy the needs of the present.”
Now, purchasers of Don Francisco’s Coffee and Café La Llave Espresso have their own chance to contribute to helping the environment by participating in the Coffee Bag and Pod Recycling Program. F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. hopes to continue funding the program on an ongoing basis so their brands can enduringly help protect our Earth.
“Through our program with TerraCycle, with the consumers’ help, we are diverting our coffee packaging waste from landfills,” Gaviña Lopez said. “This material is recycled and used to make building materials for decking and park benches among other items giving our coffee packaging a second life. This small action by the consumer to recycle our packaging helps to preserve our environment for future generations.”
To learn more about F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. Coffee Bag and Pod Recycling Program, visit TerraCycle’s site here.
To learn more about F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc., visit their site here.
F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. will be giving away a basket of Don Francisco’s Coffee products to a myBurbank reader to celebrate Earth Month. To enter to win, vote for myBurbank’s Best before May 1, and make sure you use your email address!
