A NEW café area has opened in Poole's Alder Hills business centre to help boost a charitable housing association.

People are being invited to try Eco Coffee, which has been set up at The Factory – the workspace, business development and social enterprise centre administered by Bournemouth-based housing association BCHA.

And, given the dearth of nearby coffee shops, The Factory hopes to attract employees from neighbouring businesses to have a morning cuppa there.

At the heart of the new drinks area, created from reclaimed pallet wood, is ethically-sourced sustainable coffee, provided by Dorset-based Eco Coffee company Coffee 2u through a partnership arrangement.

Coffee 2u has installed a 'state-of-the-art' Krea Touch bean-to-cup eco coffee machine in the newly created café area at the entrance to The Factory building.

Factory staff have this week been busy leafleting neighbouring premises to inform them about the new set-up.

A cup of coffee costs £1.70 with all profits going to support BCHA.

The café will be open from 9am to 5pm.

Wendy Holden, part of the development team at The Factory, said: “We are always looking for ways to improve our services for staff, co-workers, tenants, visitors and Dorset Scrapstore so we jumped at the chance to work with Coffee 2u.

“It was also felt that because we are in an area with few coffee shops we should throw open the facilities to other businesses in the immediate area, thus generating much-needed income for BCHA.

“We are delighted with our partnership with Coffee 2u and hope it proves to be successful and long-standing.”

Coffee 2u, headquartered on the Woolsbridge Industrial Estate at Three Legged Cross, was founded in 2017 by managing director Stuart Atkins and supplies coffee and coffee machines to businesses across the south.

Coffee consumption is significantly contributing towards global warming; with more than 500,000 tons of waste coffee grounds being disposed of in landfill in the UK each year.

Coffee grounds accelerate the decomposition of other food wastes that are sent to landfill. As they decompose, they produce methane, which is a greenhouse gas with more than 20 times the global warming capacity of carbon dioxide.

Coffee 2u supply their customers with the coffee and, once used, the coffee grounds are collected, dried and used as a biofuel to roast the next batch of Eco Coffee.

Louise Anderson, part of the firm’s business development team, said: “We were founded on the principle of providing high quality coffee, tea, soft drinks and coffee machines to suit any environment, eco-friendly products including compostable, recyclable and re-usable cups, lids and straws.

“We launched our brand Eco Coffee in 2018 with the aim to provide south west England with honest, delicious and responsible coffee, while enhancing the ‘reduce, re-use and recycle’ programmes.”