Morrisons Introduce Recycling Points For Coffee Machine Pods
UK retailer Morrisons has launched a trial project in partnership with pod recycling service Podback, introducing recycling points for coffee machine pods in 29 stores across the country.
As part of this initiative, customers can avail of a drop-off service, where they collect Podback recycling bags from Morrisons, fill them with used pods, and recycle them in dedicated bins at the front of the store.
Natasha Cook, the sustainable packaging and plastics manager at Morrisons, expressed excitement about the trial, stating that they aim to make it easier for customers who brew fresh coffee at home to recycle their used coffee pods.
Last year, Morrisons initiated a project to offer free coffee pod recycling bags from Podback in all its stores. Customers were able to deposit the bags with used coffee pods at one of the 6,500 Yodel drop-off points across the UK, with postage costs covered by Podback.
According to Kantar, around 800 million coffee pods were purchased in the UK in 2022, underscoring the importance of providing customers with an accessible recycling route for their pods.
As part of this effort, Morrisons has become a Podback member, allowing their own-brand pods to be recycled through the scheme, along with 24 other pod brands from the coffee sector.
The Podback scheme provides color-coded bags, one for aluminum pods and another for plastic pods, as they are separated and sent to different recycling processing plants in the UK.
Aluminum pods are transformed into aluminum ingots for new products like beverage cans, while the used plastic coffee pods are turned into other plastic items. Additionally, the used coffee grounds undergo anaerobic digestion to produce biogas and soil improver.
Apart from coffee pod recycling, Morrisons offers other recycling facilities for soft plastic, batteries, and inkjet cartridges. Since 2017, the retailer has reduced its own-brand plastic packaging by over 10,000 tonnes annually across its store estate, which comprises approximately 500 stores.
