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Zen Coffee Company is a Woman Owned Business in Omaha, NE. We strive to bring the community together by sharing the love of high quality coffee beans and delicious espresso beverages, in a warm and welcoming environment. We at Zen enjoy creating a unique place that customers can experience, while also providing many drink options so that everyone is included!  

All of us having worked in the corporate environment at one point in our career beginnings, choose to kick the trend and used our passion and personality to create Zen, where we aspire to rise above and continuously learn and grow within our team and coffee community.  We will continue to educate ourselves and support our staff and customers, as they continue to grow on their own paths. 

We strive to maintain a zero waste environment and follow green business practices while offering the highest quality products within every aspect of our store. 

One way to think of zen is this: a total state of focus that incorporates a total togetherness of body and mind.  Zen is a way of being.  It is also a state of mind.  Zen is often used to describe someone/something that has reached an UBER state of coolness and inner peace.  This is the experience we want to leave you with after each visit and after each delectable sip of our coffees and teas.  

Zen features coffee from our partner, Dapper & Wise Roasters in Beaverton, OR.   Do not be thrown off by the location, these Fair Trade beans are truly the best in the Midwest and we are thrilled to bring them directly to you! Just try it for yourself! Our roasters take great care in selecting quality sourced beans and farmers while roasting them to perfection so that each cup is more exquisite than the last! 

Come and Experience Zen....

*For updated impacts and explained methodology, please see our June 2019 revised report here.

May 10, 2018//Washington DC// Nearly every U.S. consumer handles a dozen paper receipts every week, and retail store employees may touch thousands in the same time. But few are aware of the toxic nature of the paper receipts, which utilize Bisphenol-A (BPA) or Bisphenol-S (BPS). Even fewer know of the major environmental and climate harms linked to the receipts, which are an easily avoided now that non-BPA receipts and digital sales confirmations are readily available, according to a new report from Green America.

Titled “Skip the Slip,” the new Green America analysis available online at https://greenamerica.org/report-sts* finds:

• Only one-third of retailers have adopted digital options, and the vast majority of retailers issuing paper-based receipts continue to use papers with BPA or BPS coatings. Among the leaders identified in the report as having moved away from BPA/BPS receipts are Apple, Best Buy, GNC Live Well and Lidl Grocery.  Laggards cited in the report as still using traditional paper receipts are Family Dollar, Petco, Target, TJ Maxx/Marshalls, Walgreens and Walmart. The report also finds that several companies, including CVS and Whole Foods offer digital receipts, but primarily give customers BPA or BPS receipts.

• An estimated 93 percent of paper receipts are coated with Bisphenol-A (BPA) or Bisphenol-S (BPS), known endocrine-disruptors. Paper receipts coated with BPA contain between 0.8 to nearly 3 percent pure BPA by weight. The total mass of BPA on a receipt is 250 to 1,000 times greater than the amount of BPA found in a can of food or baby formula, or in plastic baby bottles. Retail employees are at the greatest risk, as studies show workers who have regular contact with receipts have over 30 percent more BPA or BPS found in their bodies, and many employees may exceed the European Union’s limit for safe amount of BPA to absorb in a day.

• In the United States, paper receipt production uses over 3 million trees, 9 billion gallons of water, and emits 4 billion pounds of CO2 each year. If just one company as large as Walgreens – with nearly six million customers every day – ends the use of paper receipts, over 55,000 trees and 58.8 million gallons of water are saved, and 17.6 million pounds of CO2 will be prevented from entering the atmosphere. [Impacts updated June 2019 - please see recent report edition here]

• Digital receipts provide a relatively low environmental impact. Each e-receipt is estimated to have a footprint of 4 grams of carbon dioxide.  Since a mature tree can absorb roughly 21,772 grams of carbon dioxide each year, by keeping trees in the forests rather than using them for paper receipts, one tree can accommodate the emissions of over 5,443 digital receipt emails.

“The data are clear: Paper receipts coated in toxic chemicals pose risks to our health and have huge environmental impacts,” said Green America’s climate and recycling program director, Beth Porter.  “That’s why Green America is advocating for a wider use of paperless solutions, while also ensuring recyclable, phenol-free paper will be used for customers who still request a paper receipt.”

The Skip the Slip report highlights cost-effective digital and non-toxic solutions for retailers to protect their employees and customers, and reduce their impacts on the environment, while reducing fraud and increasing sales.

"Most consumers and retail cashiers would be shocked to learn that the seemingly innocent receipt paper they handle day in and day out can be laden with toxic chemicals," said Mike Schade, Mind the Store Campaign Director for Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. "These chemicals don't just stay on the paper but can make their ways into our bodies just from handling the receipt paper. Retailers should move swiftly to eliminate these harmful chemicals and transition to safer options like e-receipts."  

"In response to a growing, national wave of concern and customer backlash about single-use and non-recyclable materials, more and more companies are demonstrating their leadership by beginning to make changes that reduce waste," said Joshua Martin of the Environmental Paper Network. "Based on the threat they pose to public health and the readily available alternatives, offering non-toxic and mostly digital receipts should be among the first steps on every retailer's immediate action plan. By reducing an unnecessary and non-recyclable use of paper, retailers and their customers are taking action to reduce the pressure on the world's forests resulting from today's rising global paper consumption."

A related infographic highlighting the costs of paper-based receipts coated in BPA and BPS is available https://www.greenamerica.org/report-skip-the-slip.

Consumers and employees who are concerned about the impacts of paper-based receipts and associated toxins can take action to encourage retailers to move to digital and non-toxic options here.

About the Groups

Green America is the nation's leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America (formerly Co-op America) provides economic strategies and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems. http://www.GreenAmerica.org

Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families fights for strong chemical policy, works with retailers to phase out hazardous chemicals and transform the marketplace, and educates the public about ways to protect our families from toxic chemicals. https://saferchemicals.org/

The Environmental Paper Network (EPN) is a world-wide network of over 140 civil society organizations working together towards the Global Paper Vision. This Vision expresses our common goal to create transformational change in the pulp and paper industry and wider society, so that paper production and use contributes to a clean, healthy, just and sustainable future for life on earth. http://environmentalpaper.org/

Why "Skip the Slip and decline paper receipts? 

Paper receipts have unnecessary environmental impacts and expose workers and customers to toxic chemicals. Every year in the United States, receipt use consumes over three million trees and nearly nine billions of gallons of water. Receipt production creates nearly 300 million pounds of solid waste and emits the greenhouse gas equivalent of over 400,000 cars on the road each year.   
 
Receipts also pose exposure to toxic chemicals as most thermal paper used for receipts is coated with Bisphenol-A (BPA) or Bisphenol-S (BPS), endocrine-disruptors which serve as color-developers to make the text appear on receipts. These toxic chemicals are linked to reproductive impairment, type 2 diabetes, thyroid conditions, and other health concerns. 

In this report, we discuss the updates and key findings listed below in greater detail, as well as alternatives to toxic paper receipts and suppliers of these alternatives.

Download full PDF report here

CVS Makes Progress on Receipts  

In 2017, our Skip the Slip campaign began urging CVS to address its wasteful, BPS-covered paper receipts. Thousands of individuals signed our petition requesting that CVS switch to phenol-free paper and boost its digital receipt program reduce paper waste. This campaign led to a dialogue between Green America and CVS on its receipt practices.  

In 2020, CVS announced the switch to phenol-free paper in all 10,000 stores and increased promotion of its digital receipt option.  The company reports that increased digital participation has led to saving 49 million yards of receipt paper – more than enough paper to circle the globe. 

More details on report page 5.

Reducing paper receipts and other disposable items can be good for business.  

Analysis from Grand View Research shows that the consumption of thermal paper for receipts has been increasing in the United States and worldwide each year but decreased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, the U.S. consumed 280,000 metric tons of paper for receipts but estimates show that this will decrease to 252,000 tons this year.

The cost of thermal paper has continued to rise due to a shortage of leuco dye used in thermal paper. In 2019, the retail sector spent more than $312 million on receipt paper: a high cost for items that are frequently discarded by customers after leaving the store. This cost increase is one reason why reducing the automatic printing of unwanted paper receipts can cut costs.   

More details on report page 4.

Consumer Preference Data  

In 2019, Green America surveyed Americans on receipt preferences and learned that 89 percent of respondents would like retailers to offer digital receipts as an option. Nearly 40 percent of respondents have already signed up for digital receipts from stores that offer that option. The largest support for digital receipts came from those identifying as 44 years old or younger. Most respondents estimated that they throw away or lose over half of paper receipts that they receive and a third of all respondents want to see companies do more to reduce receipt waste.

These findings are in line with the goals of Skip the Slip. We want businesses to offer a digital option, phenol-free paper receipts by customer request, and an option for no receipt so that customers can have the choice. 

Click here for full survey results.

Barriers to Digital Receipts  

Although Green America advocates for more digitization and e-receipts, we recognize that there are customers who experience barriers to using digital.  

Paper receipts can serve as an immediate proof of purchase, and Black and Brown shoppers are demanded by store employees to prove purchase at disproportionally higher rates.  All customers have a right to shop in a store, including exiting the store, without fear of harassment or racial discrimination. Green America will urge retailers to adopt anti-discriminatory practices and advocate for a more equitable and inclusive society. 

The global pandemic has further exposed gaps in internet access within communities.  According to a 2018 Pew Research study, nearly one-third of Americans still do not have internet access at home. The digital divide is mainly experienced among older populations and less affluent ones. In a world where technological innovations are becoming more significant every day, all individuals should have easy access to the internet.  

More details on report page 11.

Company Scorecard on Receipt Practices 

Green America groups selected retailers and businesses by in-store receipt practices in the scorecard below. Data for the scorecard was gathered from: direct contact with company, publicly-available information, or research published by The Ecology Center or the Center for Environmental Health.  

*This denotes a company that offers a no receipt option or is exploring other receipt practices. 
 

Past editions of the Skip the Slip report are archived here.