Starbucks Global Month of Good Sees Collaboration with YWCA KL for Upcycling Campaign

Starbucks Malaysia has partnered with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Kuala Lumpur as it celebrates its 9th Global Month of Good (GMoG) in conjunction with Earth Day. In hopes to shrink its environmental footprint, Starbucks has announced a nationwide program of upcycling its Flavorlock™ Coffee Bags into pouches. Starbucks Malaysia aims to work towards reducing the environmental impact associated with the business through this upcycling initiative and also help the B40 community improve their livelihood.

This year, Starbucks Malaysia partnered with YWCA, a non-profit organization that works for the development of women and girls irrespective of the race, religion, culture, and socio-economic circumstances. Some of the projects run by YWCA KL today include a shelter for women in crisis based in Klang Valley, a preschool kindergarten, an edible garden and an onsite vocation school of young women in KL called the Vocational Opportunity Centre (VTOC). The VTOC program includes Culinary, Tailoring and many more.

“Today, our partners, customers, non-profit partners and civic leaders came together to realize our Global Month of Good with YWCA KL. From the onset, we have always believed that Starbucks can and should have a positive impact on the communities we serve. We strive to innovate and contribute to our societies so that everyone can endure and thrive, and this collaboration is just one of those initiatives,” said Rina Siew, CSR Manager of Starbucks Malaysia and Brunei. “At our core, Starbucks is committed to strengthening organizations such as YWCA KL and this partnership aims to close the loop on our business by upcycling our used Starbucks Flavorlock™ Coffee Bags into pouches and purses that we will retail at our stores, and where the proceeds will be channelled back to YWCA KL and the B40 Community that are helping us produce these bags.”

This year’s upcycling theme for Global Month of Good contributes to the VTOC curriculum and enhances the livelihood and skillsets of the young girls and women in which they lend a hand in sewing the Starbucks Flavorlock™ Coffee Bags each with love and care.

Volunteers at the event had the chance to try their hand at some of the workshop activities run by Starbucks Malaysia, YWCA KL, EcoKnights and Eat, Shoots & Roots. Some of them include fabric cloth matching for the pouch sewing, DIY soap making with used cooking oil, edible garden workshop where volunteers learned to utilize used coffee grounds in their garden, crop harvesting and plant care. In addition, a culinary workshop taught volunteers how to make food from fresh ingredients harvested from the edible garden.

The upcycling campaign of used Flavorlock™ Coffee Bags proves one of Starbucks Malaysia’s many initiatives of working towards waste reduction. Customers are encouraged to drop off their used Flavorlock™ Coffee Bags at Starbucks stores in support of the upcycling campaign. These used Flavorlock™ Coffee Bags are then passed to the VTOC for the production of these Flavorlock™ Coffee Bags into purses and pouches which will be retailed at all Starbucks outlets across Malaysia starting next year. Lastly, the funds contributed by the sale of these products will then be funnelled to YWCA’s VTOC program in support of YWCA’s cause of helping the B40 community.

“We are excited about the collaboration between Starbucks Malaysia and the YWCA Kuala Lumpur Social Enterprise Estate as the production of the Starbucks Flavorlock™ Coffee Bag pouches will increase the livelihood of our B40 seamstresses and empower them to do more for their families and community," said Joanne Yeoh, President of YWCA Kuala Lumpur.

Starbucks GMoG is held every year in April. This program commits to unite partners (employees), customers, non-profit organization, civic leaders, business partners and the public to dedicate their time to create a positive and meaningful change in the communities that they serve by holding local service events. Starbucks Malaysia will start collecting used Flavorlock™ Coffee Bags in stores nationwide from 1 May 2019 onwards. To further support this upcycling initiative, for every used Starbucks Flavorlock™ Coffee Bag donated, customers are entitled to a 10% discount when they purchase any Starbucks Whole Bean, with terms and conditions applied.

For more information, please visit the Starbucks Malaysia website at www.starbucks.com.my.