Gate/GTZ 
Interdev Agroalimentaire  

STEEL CONTAINERS HELP TO SAVE COFFEE 
Gourmet Farms in the Philippines

	Type de fiche	Description d'entreprise
	Mise en œuvre	Philippine Trade Training Center
(Philippines), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH  
 (Allemagne)
	Partenaires	Philippine Trade Training Center
(Philippines)
	
	Zone géographique	Asie du Sud-Est; Philippines; 
	Mots clés	CAFE; CAFEICULTURE

	Public(s) cible(s)	Small Coffee Farmer

Contexte
Located in Cavite, a province south of Manila, this company's Coffee and Herbal Tea section employed 10 people and another 10 workers during seasonal peaks in production. In the coffee grinding step, it was observed that some ground coffee particles remained adhered to the plastic containers being used to collect the material from the grinders prior to packaging. By using collection containers made of an alternate material, the company was able to recuperate coffee grounds that were previously being lost to waste each day.
Problématique / Objectifs
In the Coffee Department: Ground coffee was collected in plastic pails (one for each of the 5 grinders) to move over to the packaging area. Particles that adhered to the interior of the pails were difficult to remove except through washing, with the result that this raw material ended up as waste. It was observed that when a stainless steel container was used to collect the ground coffee, no coffee particles adhered to the interior walls. The challenge was to quantify the extent of coffee losses in order to justify the investment in a different approach.
In the Tea Department: To reduce the microbial load in the finished product and to remove any extraneous material that adhered to sun-dried banaba leaves received from suppliers, the company carried out a washing procedure prior to final drying and packaging of the tea leaves. As a result, the leaves being put into the oven for drying started out having a high moisture level. Consequently, the drying time was extended and the company's energy costs were quite high.

Description/Mise en oeuvre
ACTIONS TAKEN WITHIN THE ENTERPRISE
  In the Coffee Department: Plastic pails, which typically lasted for about one year before cracking or being broken in the normal course of handling, were replaced with stainless steel bins, which were more durable and attractive in appearance.
  In the Tea Department: Management was convinced that a spin dryer could reduce the high moisture content of the banaba leaves prior to oven drying. However, such equipment would cost the company 150,000 to 200,000 pesos (US$ 3,750-5,000). Rather than making such a large investment, the company decided to adapt a lower cost piece of equipment similar in concept to a kitchen salad spinner. At the time of writing this example, the company had not yet implemented this action.
Résultats/Eléments chiffrés
Investment cost: US$ 800 - For the purchase of stainless steel bins
Annual savings: US$ 93.60 *US$ 75 - By eliminating losses of coffee grounds to wasteBy avoiding the yearly replacement of plastic pails (5 @ $15 each)
Payback period: 4.7 years	
-------------------------------------------------
* It was estimated that 5-6 grams of coffee particles adhered to the 5 plastic pails in use after their first use each day. Each reuse of the pails during the day resulted in an additional adherence of 1-2 grams per pail. Each pail was used 3-4 times each day, and more frequently during higher production periods. Therefore, it was estimated that each day, each pail had an adherence of
10 grams. Therefore, on a daily basis, 50 grams of ground coffee was being lost to waste (5 pails @ 10 grams). With 26 processing days each month, this amounted to 15.6 kg over the course of a year
@ US$6 per kg = US$ 93.60.

Enseignements
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
In the Coffee Department:  By ensuring that the maximum amount of coffee grounds ended up in the final product, this company gained cost savings and at the same time, reduced its environmental impact by generating less solid waste. 
In the Tea Department:  An eventual decision to carry out spin drying prior to oven drying the banaba leaves would provide the possibility to shorten the overall drying time and reduce the company's energy use. 

Auteur : Carolin Bothe
Saisie le : 08/01/2002
Fiche validée 

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	Contact	Philippine Trade Training Center
, PTTC Philippines

, 1300 Pasay City, Metro Manila
Tel.:632 834 134 449, Fax: 632 834 134 3, E-mail: MenandroOrtego@dti.gov.ph
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH  
 , GTZ
Postfach 5180, 62726, Eschborn
Tel.:++49 (0)6196 79-0, Fax: (0)6196 79-1115, E-mail: firstname.lastname@gtz.de
Site web: http://www.gtz.de/

	Références Bibliographiques	Eimer, Petra (P3U team); Bark, Kerstin .- Good Housekeeping Guide for Food Manufacturing and Processing , 2000/11/1  .- 100 pgs