The environmental awareness of H.E.L.P. project participants is also measurably higher. It is now common practice to use seeping pits or sand filters for the pulp left over from wet processing of the coffee beans, to avoid polluting streams with it. In 2017, through the efforts of H.E.L.P. 94% of small farmers dug these simple filtration pits.
Erosion prevention is another important sustainability step, preventing soil from washing off hillsides. Instead of costly terracing and contour planting, with the assistance of H.E.L.P. agronomists, vegetative barriers have been planted, which also increase the amount of mixed cultivation in the area. Half of the coffee growers have implemented this measure, raising the diversity of tree species near their plantations by 58%.