Starbucks Donates 233 Tons of Eco-Friendly Coffee Grounds Compost to Jeju Island Hallabong Farms

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Starbucks Coffee Korea announced on the 29th that it donated eco-friendly coffee compost made from Starbucks coffee grounds to Hallabong citrus orchards in Jeju Island.

On the 26th, Starbucks held a "Jeju Local Farm Coffee Compost Delivery Ceremony" at a Hallabong orchard in Seogwipo City, Jeju, and delivered 11,650 bags of Starbucks eco-friendly coffee grounds compost to the Hallabong citrus orchards. The delivered coffee compost will be distributed to each Hallabong orchard in Seogwipo City through the Wimi Agricultural Cooperative in Jeju. The 11,650 bags of coffee grounds compost amount to approximately 233 tons in weight.

The Jeju Hallabong cultivated and harvested using Starbucks coffee compost is scheduled to be sold at Starbucks stores nationwide in the first half of 2022.

Since 2015, Starbucks has been continuously donating coffee compost to various farms as part of a collaboration with Gyeonggi Province to promote agricultural product consumption and resource recycling. In 2016, Starbucks signed a business agreement with the Ministry of Environment and the Resource Circulation Society Alliance to activate a pilot project for coffee grounds recycling, becoming the first in the industry to do so, and established a process for recycling coffee grounds.

From 2015 to the present, Starbucks has donated a total of 208,500 bags, approximately 4,160 tons, of coffee grounds compost worth 862 million KRW to farms in Gyeonggi Province, Boseong, Hadong, and Jeju Island. Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which are essential for plant growth, and contain no heavy metals, making them effective natural fertilizers that prevent pests and diseases and have high organic content.

Agricultural products grown with eco-friendly compost are used as ingredients for food products that are sold again at Starbucks stores. Products using domestic agricultural products such as "Rice Chips," "Uri Mi Castella," and "Uri Heukmi Castella" have seen increased sales compared to the previous year and are popular food items suited to Korean tastes.

The "Rice Chips" made from domestic agricultural products saw about a 50% increase in sales from January to October this year compared to the same period last year. Since its launch in 2009, over 2.7 million units of "Rice Chips" have been sold. "Uri Mi Castella," made with domestically certified eco-friendly rice and animal welfare eggs, saw a 54% increase in sales compared to the same period last year, establishing itself as a representative Starbucks food item that can be enjoyed simply with coffee.

Going forward, Starbucks plans to continue its resource circulation activities through support of eco-friendly coffee compost and actively develop various products using domestic agricultural products, maintaining ongoing mutual growth activities with local farms.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.