Morrisons Becomes First Supermarket to Partner with Coffee Pod Recycling Scheme ‘Podback’
Morrisons Podback News Update
July 31, 2023
Morrisons and Podback have announced that they are trialing a new drop-off service for coffee pod recycling in 29 stores across the UK. The service will allow customers to collect Podback recycling bags, fill them with their used pods, and recycle them in a dedicated bin located at the front of the store.
This is a significant step forward in the fight against coffee pod waste. It is estimated that 1.2 billion coffee pods were bought in the UK in 2021, and only a small proportion of these are currently recycled. The Podback scheme aims to make it easier and more convenient for people to recycle their coffee pods, and the new drop-off service is a major step in achieving this goal.
In addition to the new drop-off service, Morrisons is also now a Podback member, which means that the supermarket’s own-brand pods can now also be recycled through the scheme. This means that Morrisons customers now have even more options when it comes to recycling their coffee pods.
The trial of the new drop-off service will run for six months, after which Morrisons will decide whether to roll it out to more stores. If the trial is successful, it could pave the way for other supermarkets to offer similar services.
Quotes
- “We’re thrilled to be working with Morrisons to trial this new drop-off service,” said Rick Hindley, Executive Director at Podback. “This is a great way to make it even easier for people to recycle their coffee pods, and we hope that it will encourage more people to do so.”
- “We’re committed to making it easier for our customers to recycle,” said Mark Anthony, Head of Sustainability at Morrisons. “The new Podback drop-off service is a great way to do this, and we’re confident that it will be popular with our customers.”
About Podback
Podback is a coffee pod recycling scheme that was launched in 2019. The scheme is open to all coffee pod brands, and it allows customers to recycle their used pods at home or at one of the 6,500 Podback drop-off points around the UK.
About Morrisons
Morrisons is a British supermarket chain with over 490 stores in the UK. The company is committed to sustainability, and it has a number of initiatives in place to reduce its environmental impact.
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This is a press release from Morrisons –
The Podback bags can be filled with used coffee pods at home, then taken to one of 6,500 Collect+ delivered by Yodel drop off points around the UK***. All postage back to Podback is free of charge.
Through the Podback scheme, used aluminium pods are turned into aluminium ingots for new products – such as beverage cans, and used plastic coffee pods are turned into other plastic items – such as furniture. The used coffee grounds also go through anaerobic digestion – to produce a combination of biogas and soil improver.
Podback is the first coffee pod recycling scheme of its kind in the UK, and was set up by Nestle and Jacobs Douwe Egberts UK. Current participating brands include Nespresso, Tassimo, L’OR, Nescafé Gusto, Starbucks by Nespresso, Starbucks by Nescafé Dolce Gusto, Cru Kafe, Artisan Coffee Co, Allpress Espresso, Colonna Coffee and Café Palmieri by Jomad Coffee.
Sales of coffee pods have increased by 32% from pre-pandemic levels, as more people have worked from home. It is estimated that 1.2bn pods were bought in the UK in 2021, making Podback even more important as an easier route for customers to recycle their pods*.
Rick Hindley, Executive Director at Podback, said: “Podback provides consumers all over the UK with an easy way to recycle their coffee pods, no matter what brand they are buying. Morrisons is the first retailer to become a supporter of the Podback scheme, as well as provide bags in store. This is a great step forward and progress towards ensuring recycling coffee pods becomes second nature. Our goal is to ensure every pod enjoyed is recycled and working with retailers, like Morrisons, is crucial to ensuring the scheme is convenient and simple. We welcome other retailers to join to make it even easier for consumers to recycle pods in the future.”
Lorraine Wheeler, Environmental Packaging Manager at Morrisons, said: “Many of our customers want to brew fresh coffee at home using a coffee pod. But to date, coffee pod recycling has been confusing for consumers, with several different schemes by multiple brands. Podback offers an easy, simple scheme for all of our customers.”
The partnership with Podback is part of a wide ranging waste reduction initiative. Since 2017 Morrisons has reduced its own brand plastic packaging in its 497 stores by over 8,000 tonnes a year and was the first supermarket to ditch plastic ‘bags for life’ in favour of paper bags, to use traditional paper bags for loose fruit and vegetables instead of plastic, and to introduce a refillable container service on its fish, meat and deli counters to reduce single-use packaging.
The move marks a key step for Podback, which recently made its recycling bags available online via Coffee Supplies Direct.
For further information please visit www.morrisons.com or www.podback.org.
* Nielsen Total Coffee database YTD. Figures across all beverage pods sold in grocery retailers. 32% increase is 2021 sales vs the same time frame in 2019 .
**Consumers must use different recycling bags for the kerbside collection service. Podback Kerbside recycling bags are available on the Podback website*** Kerbside collection of coffee pods by Podback is also currently available in Cheltenham, South Derbyshire, Chichester, Oxford, Ipswich and Exeter. You can find out if your area is covered here.
This is a press release from Morrisons
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