Costa Coffee to trial plastic and aluminum coffee pod recycling at UK stores

06 Sep 2024 --- Costa Coffee plans to advance coffee pod recycling by joining forces with Podback, which will provide free coffee pod drop-off points and Podback recycling bags for customers during a five-month trial.

Podback is a coffee pod recycling service in the UK, created by Nespresso, Nescafé Dolce Gusto and Tassimo and is supported by over 27 coffee pod brands, including major retailers and independent roasters. 

The organization will provide coffee pod recycling in 142 Costa Coffee stores across the UK. During the trial, customers can pick up free Podback recycling bags in-store and return them once full for Podback to collect and recycle.

“This trial gives Podback customers the opportunity to drop off their used pods at local Costa Coffee stores, a response to customer feedback telling us people want a choice of ways to recycle that fit with their daily lives,” says Rick Hindley, executive director of Podback. 

He expects a positive response from customers to the initiative and hopes that “it is the first step to rolling out more drop-off locations throughout the UK.”

“Customer-facing” option

The recycling initiative makes Costa Coffee the “first UK coffee chain to collaborate with Podback to introduce customer-facing pod recycling points.”

Customers can pick up free Podback recycling bags in-store and return them once full (Image credit: Costa Coffee).The coffee pod collection points will be set up at 133 Costa Coffee stores in supermarket chain Tesco and nine Costa Coffee High Street stores in Swindon, England. 

The recycling points at Tesco stores are installed “to make it even easier to spot opportunities to recycle pods.”

“The scheme accepts both plastic and aluminum pods from any Podback member brands, including Costa Coffee pods for Nespresso, Tassimo and Nescafé Dolce Gusto machines,” notes the coffee retailer.

Tackling multiple packaging components

The locations of all the drop-off points will also be added to the “Recycle Now Recycling Locator,” which is managed by WRAP — a postcode-based search tool for people to find out what they can recycle at home or at nearby locations.

Catherine David, director of behavior change and business programs at WRAP, says: “The trial with Costa Coffee is a fantastic way to normalize and simplify recycling coffee pods. Due to their multiple component materials, these pods must be sent to a specialist recycling facility.”

“Now, customers can easily drop them off in any participating Costa Coffee store. Making recycling simple is key to success and capturing trickier items like pods at scale is an important step forward.”

Additionally, the Podback scheme recycles used aluminum and plastic pods in the UK. Aluminium is used to manufacture beverage cans and car components, while plastic is used for packaging crates and building products. 

Meanwhile, the used coffee grounds are treated by anaerobic digestion to produce renewable energy (biogas) and soil improver.

Convenient pod recycling

Costa Coffee started rolling out its new recycling points last month as part of its “existing in-house pod recycling scheme.”

Podback’s scheme also treats used coffee grounds through anaerobic digestion to produce renewable energy (biogas) and soil improver.With the latest move, Podback and Costa Coffee will aim to collect more pods for recycling through specialist facilities, which can then separate the different materials they are made of, to facilitate recycling.

“We are always looking for new ways to make it easier for our customers to recycle our packaging. Through this trial with Podback, in-store drop-off points will offer coffee pod users the chance to conveniently recycle their pods with us — whether they are Costa branded or not,” explains Liz Higgins, head of sustainability at Costa Coffee.

“The new front-of-house recycling units will be supported by increased messaging in store, which we hope will act as a reminder to customers when visiting our participating stores.”

The experimental move will also allow the coffee brand to gather customer feedback and insights, which it plans to use in enhancing future recycling solutions for pods, cups and other packaging materials.

Other recent coffee pod recycling efforts include Nespresso and Circular Materials’ Nespresso Green Bag Recycling Program in London, Canada for recycling used aluminum Nespresso coffee capsules and Starbucks’ partnership with Podback across all of its 1,250 UK coffee shops.