Created by Nestlé and Jacob Douwe Egberts United Kingdom, recycling coffee pod service Podback has partnered with the Oxford City Council and ODS to allow Oxford residents to recycle their coffee pods through a kerbside collection service from 9 August.
Oxford residents from this date will be able to recycle plastic and aluminium coffee pods using free collection bags that are part of Podback’s program. For those residents who are not able to access the kerbside service, Podback is offering a “Collect+ service” where consumers can drop off their bags to a Collect+ Store.
“With more people working from home and drinking coffee, the expansion of the recycling service to collect coffee pods couldn’t come at a better time,” says Councillor Lubna Arshad, Cabinet Member for Parks and Waste Reduction.
“Our residents want to do the right thing for the environment and recycle as much as possible. The coffee pods will be collected every week for recycling using both our household recycling and waste vehicles.”
Podback is the first coffee pod recycling service of its kind in the UK with the program currently covering Nespresso, Nescafé Dolce Gusto, Tassimo, Starbucks, L’or coffee, and Cru Kafe. The program, however, has plans to expand across all coffee brands used in the UK.
According to research conducted by YouGov, on behalf of Podback, more than 35 per cent of survey participants were unaware that pods could be recycled. A further 90 per cent stated that they would like it if they were able to recycle their coffee pods through household recycling.
Leaflets will be sent to Oxford residents across August with participants then able to register for Podback’s service, depending on the type of coffee pods used.
Once they have registered, participants will be sent a roll of recycling bags which residents will fill as normal, placing these bags on top of their blue recycling or green waste bin lid during kerbside collection days.
The coffee pods will then be collected and sent for reprocessing where the packaging and coffee grounds will be separated. The grounds will be then be reused for initiatives such as improving soil or renewable energy projects while the plastic and aluminium packaging will be recycled into new products.
“We want people to enjoy the quality and taste of coffee and have easy ways to recycle their pods. Consumers can already access local Collect + stores of which there are more than 6,500 in the UK, to drop off empty coffee pods,” says Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Podback.
“However, this new collaboration with ODS and Oxford City Council, to introduce coffee pod collections through the existing kerbside recycling services, will make it even easier for consumers to participate at home whilst helping the Council increase the amount it recycles.”
Podback’s service supports the Oxfordshire’s Environmental Partnership which seeks to reduce the county’s residual rate while increasing its recycling rate to 65 per cent.
For more information about Podback, visit www.podback.org
