40 Hands in the 'hood

Forty Hands’ vision is to set the benchmark of a neighbourhood cafe and that means making sure we support and care for the ‘hood too. With that in mind, we’ve partnered with some awesome local charities on the following schemes to give a little back to our community.

Photograph courtesy of SPD

Our Environmental Impact

As a business we recognise that we have a responsibility to minimise our environmental impact and make it easy for our customers to do the same whilst still enjoying the products and services we offer. All our staff are trained to only give out disposable items on request including orders through our delivery partners. We aim to eliminate all our plastic packaging by 2020 and are in discussions with a local company about setting up a cup share scheme to reduce the amount of coffee cups we use. Unfortunately, due to the way our waste is processed in Singapore (its incinerated then the ash is buried) we do not see the benefit of switching to bio-degradable coffee cups as they wouldn't be processed properly. We are constantly thinking about how we can reduce our environmental impact and would love to hear from you if you have any ideas or suggestions for us, email us at cafe@40handscoffee.com.

Metal Reusable Straws
We aim to reduce our plastic usage by using stainless steel straws in all our in house drinks. We also use paper or corn based bio-plastic for take aways, which are only given on request. We also participated in the 2019 WWF No Plastic in Nature roundtable signing their PACT to reduce our plastic usage by 2030.

We are firm believers in the 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (in that order!) and encourage our customers to do the same!

Our Coffee
We are champions of the specialty coffee movement. Through our partnership with Common Man Coffee Roasters we ensure all our coffee is direct trade to give the maximum value to the growers and producers at source.

Pay It Forward with SPD
This scheme enables our customers to buy an extra coffee or drink at only $3 for a client or volunteer at SPD to enjoy at a later date. We also use the money collected to cater for carer and volunteer parties held at SPD which give valuable support and respite to them.

Milk Bottle Scheme with MINDS
We have partnered with The Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) to provide milk bottles for their up-cycling education programmes.

Trees for Kibira with Common Man Coffee Roasters
In 2018 we took part in CMCR's Coffee Day to raise funds for Trees for Kibira reforestation project run by CMCR, Five Senses Coffee and Long Miles Coffee Project. To date, 15,000 seedling trees have been planted along the forest with the local community mobilised to care for the seedlings. We hope to support CMCR and Long Miles Coffee Project on this initiative for many years to come.

Food Waste Collection with the NEA/Veolia
We are part of a pilot scheme in Tiong Bahru which collects all our food waste and coffee grounds to convert them into biogas.

​Bamboo Paper Products
All our napkins and hand towels are supplied by Eco-U and made using unbleached, natural bamboo. Bamboo is a fast growing, sustainable source of paper pulp with a lower carbon footprint than traditional materials.

10% Discount BYO Reusable Cups
Bring any reusable cup for your favourite beverage and we'll give you the discount, extra smiles if it's a CMCR one! Sol Cups are available for purchase from CMCR SG, Common Man Stan and Grounded by CMCR.