Paddy & Scott's
Our ethical stance.
Our social and environmental footprint, lets tell it to you straight:
We are often asked by our customers if the coffee we sell is certified, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, organic etc.
(We are also asked if our products are packaged in recyclable or biodegradable packaging.)
...we love responding to these questions personally, however, being sat in front of a keyboard answering queries is time we’d rather spend working on life-changing projects, so we thought we’d take this opportunity to spill the beans with you...
Are we a charity?
No, we are not a charity, NGO or not-for-profit organisation.
We’re a small UK based, for-profit business that believes in sharing these profits with the families and communities that grow our coffee.
We believe that doing good is good for business, where commerce can be a driver for change.
We've got a committed team of people driven to make their mark on the planet.
It's about much more than business, we're all passionate about using commerce to help humanity flourish.
Do we work with Fairtrade?
Yes, we proudly work with Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance Association and UTZ, supporting three projects around the coffee belt.
The Cerrado region, in southwestern Minas Gerais, Brazil, best known for its homogeneous climate and altitude. The Kambata region of Ethiopia, which is known for the production of not only coffee but ginger too with our coffee coming from the Sidamo and Wolyata region, and most proudly in Vietnam, where the purchasing of our coffee has helped the farmers from the area to set up the producer group, Cudliemnong.
The cooperative received Fairtrade Certification in 2009 and currently has 84 members.
The Muchomba Project - Kenya
This award winning, groundbreaking project was set up as a commercial joint venture with Paddy & Scott’s and a Kenyan smallholding coffee farm headed by George and Issac Muchomba back in 2017.
We were shocked by how little money the small holder coffee families of East Africa actually received for their crop; sometimes as little at 1.5 cents per cup, and wanted to create a simplified supply chain that shared the retail margin with the community that grows the coffee.
Since 2017 the project has expanded to produce enough coffee to fill over 1 million cups per year.
The proceeds from the sale of this coffee have helped to fund a school, provide fresh running water, and improve sanitation facilities.
We have also supported the development of a commercially viable supply chain, ensuring that the Muchomba family and their community can continue to thrive through coffee farming for generations to come.
We are focused on building strong, sustainable partnerships like this one to help meet the growing demand for our coffee, while making a lasting impact on farmers and their communities.
Are the farms you collaborate with accredited?
No, we created the project and didn’t feel we needed to pay for external accreditation, which is expensive and bureaucratic (well someone’s got to pay for all those people and consultants who run these global organisations).
We prefer to make decisions with the family, decide on what projects we’re going to fund, when and where. We believe the management of the project is best suited by our partners that live within the community.
The Mount Kenya Trust Partnership
Our partnership with Mount Kenya Trust delivers essential Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Services (ASRHS) in schools.
Meru faces some of Kenya’s highest rates of teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence, and HIV infections — yet schools currently have no formal sexual health education and limited access to adolescent health services.
Our work focuses on training health personnel, teachers, and peer counsellors, and building collaboration between schools and the Ministry of Health to ensure strong community coordination. We’re also providing locally made ‘Dignity Packs’ for girls, containing reusable sanitary products, hygiene essentials, and educational materials.
This initiative not only meets an urgent need but also supports local women and promotes a sustainable, community-led model for lasting change.
Don’t just take our word for it, what does the world think of our project?
Is our packaging recyclable and compostable?
Since 2007 all our coffee packaging has been made from aluminium free PET recyclable material, LDPE4 or PP5.
Our paper cups are compostable, our lids are made from corn starch and our coffee bags are made from compostable potato starch.
However, we’re still not satisfied and continually look at ways we can reduce our use of single use plastic and reduce our CO2 emissions, we’re not completely there yet but we’re getting pretty damn close.
We genuinely believe we’re here for a good time, not a long time...
100% Carbon neutral shipping.
All Paddy & Scott's deliveries from orders from our website are now Carbon Neutral.
We do this by working with Shopify to calculate how much Carbon each delivery will emit and then funding several world leading schemes which take Carbon out of the atmosphere, to make sure the same amount of Carbon is captured.
We want our coffee to be a force for good in the world, not something that harms it!
