Melitta North America Expands Sustainability Initiatives with Solar Panels
Melitta North America has expanded its commitment to sustainability with the installation of solar panels at the brand’s state of the art coffee roasting facility in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The USD $1.3 million project will help increase energy efficiencies at the 100,000 square-foot plant, which roasts all coffee for Melitta’s North American needs.
“As a family-owned, eco-minded brand, this new initiative expands our commitment to operating sustainably and protecting the environment in which we live and work,” says Jeff Bridges, vice president, operations. “In addition to producing eco-friendly products like bamboo coffee filters, recyclable single-serve capsules, 100% recyclable boxboards used in packaging, and composite coffee cans made from recycled materials, we’ll now be able to generate 563,385 kilowatts of clean energy annually – enough to power 50 homes for an entire year.”
The plant’s solar panels have an estimated annual environmental benefit equivalent to the planting of 50,942 trees, the conservation of 367,425 gallons of water and the removal of 1,017,767 pounds of CO2 from the earth’s atmosphere.
The solar panel installation was completed in March and the panels are fully operational, generating electricity for the plant. This is the most recent substantial update made to further enhance the roasting facility. Over the past several years, significant investments have been made from new equipment being installed for the production of single-serve coffee to plant expansion developments to full modernisation modifications. The Cherry Hill location has been in continuous operation since 1964, when Melitta first entered the US coffee market. The plant produces the full range of the brand’s coffee products for major retail chains and specialty stores across the country.
New Jersey is ranked fifth in the US for solar power generation, based on data from Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
Melitta was founded in 1908 by Melitta Bentz after receiving a patent for her coffee filtering system consisting of a filter and filtration paper. The filter system was the first to successfully remove coffee residue in the brewing process, revolutionising the way coffee was made. Melitta North America, Inc, is part of the privately held Melitta Group in Minden, Germany, and is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. Melitta USA—a division of Melitta North America—produces coffee and filters in North America and markets the line in the US. For more information, visit www.melitta.com.
