Morrisons has become the first supermarket to partner with Podback to offer its customers an option to recycle coffee pods into other plastic items such as furniture.
The Big 4 grocer has teamed up with recycling scheme Podback to provide free Podback Collect+ recycling bags from its customer service desks.
Shoppers are encouraged to fill the bags with used coffee pods at home, then take them to one of 6,500 Collect+ drop off points, delivered by Yodel – with all postage free of charge.
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Under the Podback scheme, aluminium pods are recycled into aluminium ingots which are used to make products such as beverage cans. Used plastic coffee pods are recycled into plastic items such as furniture.
The announcement comes as coffee pod sales increased by 32% from pre-pandemic levels as more gave opted to work from home.
With an estimated 1.2 billion pods bought in the UK in 2021 “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 supermarket 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,” Podback executive director Rick Hindley said.
“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.”
The pod scheme comes part of Morrisons wider waste reduction initiatives, which have included reducing plastic packaging since 2017, ditching plastic “bags for life” for paper bags and refillable container services.
This week the retailer also revealed it would become the first UK supermarket to swap own-brand milk from plastic bottles to cartons in a bid to reduce plastic waste.
Morrisons environmental packaging manager Lorraine Wheeler added: “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.”
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