Starbucks Opens LEED Roasting Plant

Starbucks Coffee Company announced the opening of its state-of-the-art roasting plant in Calhoun County in South Carolina.

The facility is “an example of the company’s global commitment to green design” and was awarded LEED® Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Employing 100 full-time Starbucks employees, the facility supplies coffee to the company’s southeastern U.S. stores.

“During these challenging economic times, I’m proud we are creating jobs by building something special here in South Carolina,” said Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ chairman, president and CEO. “In this business climate, it’s more important than ever that we make the right investments in our business, while making sure we do it in ways that support our business, the communities we work in, the environment and our people.”

Starbucks has committed to LEED certification for all new company-operated stores by the end of 2010. Photo: Coffeeisgoodforyou.com

Using green design components certified by a third-party organization is part of the company’s strategy to help achieve the Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ goal to significantly reduce its environmental footprint by 2015. To help reduce the energy and waste generated by both the construction and operation of the facility, the company employed a number of initiatives, including:

• Recycling – 20 percent of building materials were made from recycled content and over 75 percent of construction waste was recycled.
• Reduction – The facility features efficient, state-of-the art lighting and water fixtures, drought-tolerant landscape and a portion of the power used for operations will be supplied by wind energy.

“Given the extraordinary importance of climate protection and the increasing role of the retail industry in that effort, Starbucks demonstrates their leadership not only through their LEED certification of this roasting plant, but their commitment to seek LEED certification for stores across the globe,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair for the USGBC.