Sainsbury’s labels own brand aluminum coffee pods as recyclable with OPRL logos

13 Sep 2021 --- Sainsbury’s has become the first UK retailer to label its own brand aluminum coffee pods as recyclable. The supermarket stresses that despite popular misconceptions and confusion, aluminum coffee pods can be recycled at home in the UK, provided they are empty of coffee grinds.

“The two key things we needed to explore to see if the coffee pods could be recycled was how clean the pods needed to be and whether they were too small,” a Sainsbury’s spokesperson tells PackagingInsights.   

“However, we quickly proved that in order for the coffee pods to be recycled, they just needed a rinse by the consumer and then they could be sorted correctly in the recycling facility.”  

To help educate consumers about how to recycle their coffee pods, the UK supermarket chain is partnering with coffee pod manufacturer Dualit and recycling labeling not-for-profit On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL). 

Together they have created a new label for Sainsbury’s own coffee pods, making clear that metal recycles forever. 

The new coffee pod label.“We hope other [coffee brands] follow suit and change their packaging to raise awareness and encourage recycling,” comments Claire Hughes, director of product and innovation at Sainsbury’s. 

Confusing recycling symbols
The announcement follows OPRL’s calls for the UK government to legislate for consistent recycling labeling. “Consumers consistently say understanding what can and can’t be recycled can be confusing – and so are multiple recycling symbols,” argues the non-profit.

“While the UK government plans to introduce mandatory recycling labeling on all packaging in the Environment Bill, the proposals would allow any business or labeling scheme to decide for themselves what the label would look like, subject to an approval process.”

The UK’s Environment Bill gives the government new powers to intensify its “war on plastic” pollution and litter, including:

• Introducing a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers to recycle billions more plastic bottles.
• An updated Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, meaning producers of commonly littered packaging will be made more responsible for their littered packaging, with fees paid to cover the cost of cleaning up and for litter prevention activities.
• Plans for consistent recycling collections for every household and business in England ensuring more plastic is recycled.

Allowing businesses to create recycling symbols individually would “inevitably” add to current confusion, according to OPRL. PackagingInsights has reached out to OPRL for comment on the Sainsbury’s launch.

What to do about it
In 2020, OPRL launched a binary labeling system with green symbols indicating “Recycle” or black ones labeled “Don’t Recycle.”

“At Sainsbury’s, we use OPRL logos consistently across our products and include messages like ‘cap on’ or ‘rinse’ on some products as guidance for our customers,” explains the Sainsbury’s spokesperson. Sainsbury’s has become the first UK retailer to label its own brand aluminum coffee pods as recyclable. 

“We hope this will help support customers’ understanding of recycling beyond the on-pack messaging.”    

Ample willingness to recycle
One could argue taking the extra step to clean aluminum pods before recycling is inconvenient for the consumer. 

However, OPRL’s own research reveals consumers are eager to do their part – 60 percent of consumers say they have increased their recycling over the last year as “something positive” they can do. 

“While we have tried to make this message clear, we know from data that not all customers will recycle effectively,” says the Sainsbury’s representative. 

A holistic approach
OPRL’s survey indicates three in four consumers look to the government and businesses to make recycling education easy for them. 

According to Innova Market Insights data, other obstacles to UK consumers separating packaging waste include lacking waste separation infrastructure (31%), time (16%), incentive (12%) and economic resources (8%). OPRL’s binary labeling system.

“We’re always looking for new ways to help our customers live more sustainably at home, and key to that is making sure any changes are small and easy to implement,” says Hughes.

Once the coffee has been separated, users can put the coffee grounds in home compost bins, in kerbside food waste bins, or in their garden – using small quantities around plants.

“We need to keep working as a total industry to upskill consumers and increase effective recycling rates,” Sainsbury’s concludes.

Last month, Greiner Packaging and Borealis partnered to produce Caffè latte drinking cups using chemically recycled polypropylene (rPP) for Swiss dairy company Emmi. 

By Anni Schleicher