The initiative will be trialled in 29 stores and allows customers to collect their Podback recycling bags, fill with their used pods, and recycle in a dedicated bin located at the front of store.
Customers need to use correctly colour coded bags – one for aluminium pods one for plastic pods – as pods are separated and sent to different recycling processing plants in the UK.
Also, the retailer is set to become a Podback member, meaning Morrisons own-brand pods can now also be recycled through the scheme, along with 24 other pod brands across the coffee sector.
Natasha Cook, sustainable packaging and plastics manager at Morrisons, said: “We’re excited to be launching this trial with Podback as we look to make it even easier for our customers who want to brew fresh coffee at home to recycle their used coffee pods. Now they can grab a Podback bag, fill it at home and simply drop it off on their next store trip.”
Recycled
Once collected, through Podback, the used coffee pods are recycled and turned into new products.
Aluminium pods were transformed into aluminium ingots, which could be used to create new beverage cans and other aluminium products. Meanwhile, plastic coffee pods were recycled into various plastic items, such as building products and plastic crates. And the used coffee grounds were subjected to anaerobic digestion to produce biogas and soil improver.
Rick Hindley, executive director at Podback, said: “Morrisons was the first supermarket to become a supporter of Podback, and we’re thrilled that they’re now set to become a member; enabling their own brand pods to be recycled through the service and working with us to further improve access to coffee pod recycling by trialling a new drop-off system. This is another exciting step forward towards providing consumers with easy and convenient ways to recycle their used coffee pods. We welcome and encourage other retailers to join Podback and make it even easier for consumers to recycle pods in the future.”
Pods
Pods are predominately made of plastic, but also contain a small amount of aluminium.
While pods are currently technically recyclable, consumers not part of the kerbside system must order a recycling bag for the pods and once full, print off a label and take it to a collection point.
According to Podback, the sorting and reprocessing stages are overseen fully by its partners in the UK, meaning it has “complete visibility over what happens to the pods”.
After collection, the coffee pod materials will be separated from the used coffee grounds. The plastic and aluminium pods will be processed separately in the UK, Podback says, with plastic pods producing “high grade plastic pellets which will be used by manufacturers to produce high grade plastic items”, while the aluminium ingots can create beverage cans, car spare parts and “other everyday objects”.
The coffee grounds will go through anaerobic digestion producing a combination of biogas and soil improver.
Aluminium will be processed by Tandom Metallurgical Group Ltd in Congleton, near Stoke-on-Trent. Plastic pods will be reprocessed by Bright Green Plastics in West Yorkshire.
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