Mission
Elevate the quality of coffee while practicing the joy of serving others
Vision
We’re investing our time and money to generate a net positive impact on everyone’s health, happiness, and ecosystem.
OUR JOURNEY
Denver Public Schools and The Greenway Foundation collaboration launched
April 2024
We passed out 4000 hot sleeves to 18+ schools across Denver K-12 and asked students to draw any Earth Month related image – the results were fantastic, inspiring, hilarious, and outrageous. We loved it! See one of our favorite examples to the left.
Annual waste audit
April 2024
We've completed at least two waste audits beofre all three reports that have been published. Audits are the only way to know how customers are deciding what to recycle vs throw away. How do we complete one, you ask? We dump out your trash/recycling and count everything inside!
Heat pump installed at Blake Street
March 2024
With help from the City of Denver’s Electrification Feasibility Report Pilot Program, we replaced our outdated, over worked, unreliable heating and cooling unit with a new, efficient, electric, heat pump.
March 2024
We waited a long time for this one. Now, $0.50 from every bag of Blue Sparrow Coffee we sell will be donated to Zero Foodprint to help fund regenerative agriculture across the US.
December 2023
*MAINSPRING is our parent company, meaning we aren't a Certified B Corp but our work played a role in them becoming one!
Last quarterly barista training
December 2023
Check out our 2024 goals and see we are changing up how we train on “Sustainability”. Keeping everyone on their toes!
Start re-writing Vision Statement to reflect "sustainability"
July 2023
Check out our hard work at the top of the page!
Changed "Sustainability" Fund to subsidize alt-milks
April 2023
We decided to subsidize the cost of alternative milks to keep prices low on lower impact options within our store. 100% of our single-use charge now goes to keeping alternative milks cheaper, in the name of "sustainability".
February 2023
We love our friends at Certifiably Green Denver and completed the city run certification as our first “Sustainability” credential
Annual Waste Audit
February 2023
ASHRAE Level 2 energy audit
January 2023
We hired Xcel to complete a walk-through assessment, review of our utility bills, machinery check, and interview of our Sustainability Analyst to monitor energy effeciency.
Replaced sugar packets w/ refillable syrups
August 2022
Our waste audits quickly revealed that sugar packets are nothing but a contaminant to our recycling streams, so we removed them all together. Adding syrups in their place!
Oatly Big Idea Grant application
October 2022
Check out our application here! Want to fund it? Let's talk!
Quarterly Barista Training
November 2022
Tracked our "recyclables" to see where they were really going
August 2022
Remember this? We decided to replicate the experiment by placing GPS devices in to-go cups and sending them off to be recycled (fingers crossed). One was quickly lost, the other ended up in the dump, and the last one standing made it allll the way to a landfill outside of Boulder, CO.
First barista training
July 2022
Baristas are the voice of our “sustainability” work, we implemented quarterly trainings in year one to ensure they are up to speed on the initiatives we are launching, our reports, and the environmental science behind our work. Oh yes, and they’re paid to learn all of this. Click here to see the first training!
Hosted an event to clean up the communal trash room at Platte Street
July 2022
Quarterly barista training
June 2022
Changed our customer facing napkins
June 2022
We removed the "100% recycled content" branding on our napkins to reduce the chances of them contaminating our recycling bin. Our first waste audit made it clear that they were a top contaminate. Anecdotally, it totally worked!
Compost added at Platte Street
June 2022
Compost added at Blake Street
May 2022
Adding compost allowed us to ensure 100% of all coffee grounds were being diverted from the trash.
Added MS Marketplace to slack
May 2022
We created our own version of a used goods marketplace for staff 35+ staff members to share items they no longer want and keep their closet clean outs circular!
Daily trash sorting for BSC X Alejandro Gaeta Earth Day collaboration dress
March 2022
Our 2023 Blue Sparrow Coffee x Alejandro Gaeta collaboration was made of 100+ used to-go cups, so we stopped by the store at the end of every day to gather them for our designer!
Tried to donate our leftover pastries
March 2022
Turns out we don't have many! We loved the idea of partnering with local non-profit We Don’t Waste, but we rarely had leftovers to share. Currently, any leftovers get taken home, handed out, or composted.
First water meter reading at Platte Street
March 2022
In response to our year two water data (which was x2, x3, x5, even x10 times higher than the year before) we started reading the meter ourselves. We continue to do this twice a month and won't stop until we understand our water usage.
Put our lighting on a tight schedule to reduce energy use in stores
March 2022
Single-Use Initiative launched
January 2022
We started charging $0.10 per single-use cup going out our doors, knowing that customers are more likely to change behavior when they're fined than when they’re rewarded. All single-use fees go back into our “Sustainability” work at Blue Sparrow Coffee. Read more, here.
First waste audit completed
February 2022
Changed our candle supplier to
Keystone Inspired Co.
November 2021
Keystone Inspired Co. has a whole page on their sustainability practices here.
Hired a Sustainability Analyst
October 2021
Made the switch to strawless lids
August 2019
Replaced plastic straws w/ paper straws
June 2018
Paper > plastic, any day. Now we have our iconic blue and white stripped straws, always available by request!