Coffee BOB catalyzes circular economy

According to the Environmental Protection Department, 3,255 tonnes of food waste are disposed at landfills every day, accounting for one third of total municipal solid waste in Hong Kong. In addition to taking up valuable landfill space, its decomposition process also brings odour nuisance and releases methane, a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide—the harm brought by food waste is much greater than what’s usually assumed.

About 30% of the waste disposed at landfills every day is food waste, which releases a greenhouse gas more destructive than carbon dioxide: methane. Taking that into consideration, upcycling food waste into new products not only creates value, but also eases global warming.

Rescuing 2.6 tonnes of surplus bread

In 2021, Maxim’s Group began to join hands with Breer, an award-winning local start-up founded by HKUST students, and launched the BOB (Bottle of Bread) label. The team replaces barley with surplus bread as an essential brewing ingredient, turning what would have been wasted into local craft beer. Over 2.6 tonnes of surplus bread have since been rescued.

Coffee grounds is one of the most common kinds of food waste produced by restaurants. Except for a tiny amount that is being recycled as a handicraft material, most of it is being thrown away to government food waste processing facilities or simply to landfills, like any other trash. 

After months of testing and fine-tuning, Maxim’s Group successfully turned the grounds collected from its restaurants into a beer brewing ingredient, and launched “Coffee BOB”, the second BOB product. While the Original BOB pale ale has a delightful citrus note, the new beer is a stout with more robust flavors brought by coffee grounds added during the brewing process, with each bottle containing 4 grams of grounds. The intertwining dark chocolate notes and roasty flavors bring forth a delicate balance between sweetness and bitterness.

To ensure freshness and avoid exposure to humidity, sunlight, dust and germs, surplus breads would be sent to a cold room as soon as they are collected and be used in brewing the next day. Moreover, the high temperature produced during the brewing is enough to kill off any left-over germs, making sure every bottle is absolutely safe and tasty.

The Original BOB and the Coffee BOB contain 25 grams and 15 grams of surplus bread respectively, while the latter also contains 4 grams of coffee grounds. Barley is entirely replaced as a brewing ingredient.

“Buy Six Plant One”—let’s all take part in waste and carbon reduction

With the brilliant idea of “upcycling bread into beer”, BOB echoes with the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by incorporating waste reduction and circular economy into people’s daily routine. The innovative products invite consumers to play a part in resource conservation and the endeavor to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C.

For every 6 bottles of BOB sold, Maxim’s Group will sponsor social enterprise EcoMatcher in helping tree farmers to plant one tree in Asia. The growth of these trees can be observed on corresponding website and smartphone application. In this sense, each BOB purchase is contributing to tree farmers and their communities.

Innovative ideas and practices of sustainable development are ingrained in every facet of life. Enterprises, start-ups and consumers should work hand in hand to create greener consumption habits that benefit our communities, the environment and the earth, and that is exactly what BOB does—it brings together different stakeholders with the common pursuit of a brighter future.

[Note 1]: EPD’s Food Waste Challenge https://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/tc_chi/environmentinhk/waste/prob_solutions/food_waste_challenge.html

Hong Kong Solid Waste Monitoring Report 2020 Statistics https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/sites/default/files/msw2020tc.pdf

[Note 2]: UNEP Bread to beer: an unlikely sandwich cast-off https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/bread-beer-unlikely-sandwich-cast


More information: https://www.maxims.com.hk/bob.html



Maxim’s Branded Products uniforms are made with 100% sustainable fibre, upcycling 16 plastic bottles in each piece. Showcasing Maxim’s professionalism while advancing the sustainability agenda.

Curbing the use of plastic and virgin raw materials

Maxim's Branded Products unveiled a new uniform which debuted in Mainland China, Hong Kong, USA, Canada and Southeast Asia in 2023. The new shade of burgundy is produced entirely with Repreve, a sustainable material. With 7,000 shirts procured, the equivalence of upcycling over 110,000 plastic bottles, was part of our effort to bring a happy and green mid-autumn festival to our beloved planet and everyone living on it.

Apart from the Branded Products Department, other departments have also been gradually incorporating sustainable elements into their uniforms and utensils starting from 2021, slashing plastic usage along with the demand for virgin material, as a means to better utilize resources and contribute to the circular economy.

Repreve is a sustainable polyester made from recycled plastic bottles. Its production is less polluting and carbon intensive. Uniforms and tools used in commercial settings need to be extra durable since the frequent cleaning is necessary for maintaining good hygiene, which in turn renders them more prone to wear and tear. The material also has to be soft, comfortable on the body and suitable for multiple wears. Repreve is a perfect candidate that checks all the boxes.

To help dealers and colleagues better understand the intention behind it, labels and tags are attached to indicate 'upcycled from plastic bottles'.
The plastic-bottle-uniform goes global

Mr. Patrick So, Chief Operating Officer (Branded Products and FMCG, Cakes & Bakery (Mainland China)), believes sustainable uniform is a trend in the global community that aligns with Maxim’s values. The use of Repreve weaves together the spirit of sustainability and innovation, giving birth to comfortable uniforms that do not require ironing. Be it for colleagues working indoors or outdoors, they all feel refreshed and proud wearing these thoughtfully produced pieces.

"Sustainable uniforms are not just mere clothing items, it is also a pleasant gesture to our planet and contributes deeply to Maxim’s long term vision sustainability." says Mr. So.

Sustainable uniform serves as a testimony to Maxim’s commitment to sustainable development and an example for our dealers and partners

What does Maxim’s Branded Products team think?

 
It’s awesome! 
Can’t believe it’s made of plastic bottles!
 

Vietnam Team

Everyone at the company strives 
to be greener and less 
carbon intensive. 
Wearing it makes me proud!

Mainland China Team

   
It’s iron-free, 
convenient and 
makes us look sharp.


 US Team

 
It feels like an usual uniform
but turns out it’s made 
of green materials.
 

Hong Kong Team


Maxim’s Group also uses upcycled renewable materials or Repreve in:
The staff t-shirt at MX.
The Arome aprons at Arome Bakery.
The chef pants at Peking Garden.
The tablecloths at COVA.
The volunteer t-shirt for the Japanese restaurant team.


Maxim’s Group and Swire Properties have co-organized the ‘Project Green Moon – Mooncake Boxes Collection’ campaign for 14 consecutive years. In 2022 alone, more than 3,800 mooncake boxes were recycled. The essence of reducing waste at source has indeed been infused as early as in the development stage of Maxim’s products.

As early as 2014, Hong Kong MX Mooncakes pioneered the use of bagasse to make green mooncake packaging. In 2022, it launched mooncake boxes made from FSC-certified paper. .
Sustainable Mooncake Packaging, Innovative Ideas in Details

Waste Reduction is all about strategy.  The mindset of waste reduction should start way from the beginning. It’s like drawing a triangle, the base, which is also the critical foundation, is to reduce waste at source starting from design and production.   

Maxim’s Product Development Team has simplified the packaging without compromising the aesthetic glamour, making Hong Kong MX Mooncakes incessantly a renowned festival gift. 

Hong Kong MX Mooncakes introduced bagasse as an eco-packaging material as early as 2014. Metal boxes have been re-sized as a ‘just-fit’ for four mooncakes, packaging is further minimized by reducing spare parts to only a cross-shaped divider to avoid excessive packaging. 

Hong Kong MX Mooncakes introduced a new eco-packaging in 2022: a mooncake box made of FSC-certified paper with soy ink printing, embracing eco elements throughout its design. 

Upon completing preliminary sorting and removal of parts not suitable for recycling, mooncake boxes would be turned in to raw ingredients.
Mooncake Boxes Collection Points Increased to 290

Maxim’s Group is committed to mooncake boxes recycling and it has co-organised the ‘Project Green Moon – Mooncake Boxes Collection’ campaign with Swire Properties for 14 consecutive years. This year, two new partners joined efforts to collect mooncake boxes during the Mid-Autumn season, namely the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and the Hong Kong Housing Society. As a result, 3,800 boxes were recycled in 2022.

The collected mooncake boxes are transferred to Greener Actions to transform them into raw materials for a second life. “This year, spearheaded by Maxim’s, many other coporations joined the initiative with a total of 290 collection points. The previous collection points focused on points offered by partnering companies and corporations, and the scale was comparatively smaller.” said Ms Man Ip, Project Manager of Greeners Action.

After preliminary sorting of mooncake boxes and removal of parts not suitable for recycling, paper boxes are delivered to local recyclers and turned into paper pulps. Local companies can use paper pulps to make meaningful products. Metal boxes were crushed followed by processing and were transformed to raw material.

Maxim’s Group co-organised the ‘Project Green Moon – Mooncake Boxes Collection’ campaign with Swire Properties for 14 consecutive years and recycled 3,800 mooncake boxes in 2022.
Starting ‘A Dollar Less for Less Rice’ since 2008 to Reduce Food Waste

Greeners Action considers Maxim’s Group a forward-looking company in sustainability. Waste reduction is not limited to retail goods' packaging. Greeners Action collaborated with Maxim's Group as early as 2008 when they invited restaurant groups to join the “A Dollar Less for Less Rice” campaign. Man recalls, “Maxim’s Group responded swiftly. Meetings were held to discuss the promotion direction and the frontline operation. Maxim's Group is the first mover that promotes waste reduction proactively.”

Spearheaded by Maxim’s, the ‘bread rescue’ and donation program has distributed 12,000 bakery items to people in need over the years. Man expresses appreciation to Maxim’s forward-looking vision, “Maxim’s Group always acts fast. They have invited us to carry out food waste survey across its food and catering businesses and help determine how they can reduce waste and facilitate recycling in very early stage.”


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