2.7 million households are now able to recycle coffee pods at household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) in their local authority area, LARAC said.
The Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) said the coffee pod recycling service Podback has partnered with 14 local authorities to add 64 new HWRC sites to its network of drop-off locations across the UK.
Podback provides containers, site signage and marketing support materials to help launch and promote the service.
Residents do not need to use special Podback bags to return their used coffee pods at the local HWRC, however, they must separate their aluminium and plastic pods.
Once a service is live, Podback organises collections and onward logistics for the pods to its UK reprocessors, and will provide the authority with data for Waste Data Flow, meaning pods can be attributed to recycling rates.
LARAC said that mobilisation typically takes around six weeks from agreement to launch and a further 3 million households are set to be added in upcoming launches.
Expanding Podback’s partnerships with local authorities to include HWRCs is part of LARAC’s strategy to provide coffee pod users with simple and convenient ways to recycle.
How are the coffee pods recycled?
The used aluminium and plastic pods are recycled in the UK. Podback said aluminium is used in the manufacture of beverage cans and car components, and plastic is used in the manufacture of a range of items such as packaging crates and building products.
The used coffee grounds are treated by anaerobic digestion to produce renewable energy (biogas) and soil improver, Podback said.
FCC Environment (FCC) and coffee pod recycling scheme Podback announced plans to roll out coffee pod recycling across HWRCs in England and Wales earlier this year.
The expansion followed a successful pilot of coffee pod recycling at 11 FCC HWRC sites in Suffolk operated on behalf of Suffolk County Council and two in Berkshire.
In the first six months of operations at the Berkshire sites, Podback said they collected 14 tonnes of pods.
Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Podback, commented: “Our pilots over the last year with FCC have proved successful and have received positive feedback from residents using the service.
“We hope offering people another option to recycle their used pods will help to make recycling even more convenient and accessible and increase rates of recycling overall in these new locations.”
Morrisons’ coffee pod collection scheme
Morrisons became the “first” UK supermarket to roll out dedicated Podback coffee pod collection points in over 350 stores nationwide earlier this year.
Customers are able to drop off bags of used aluminium and plastic pods in-store, which will then be recycled in the UK through the Podback scheme.
The national rollout follows a trial of in-store collection points in 29 stores. Morrisons said between July 2023 and March 2024 the trial collected over 42,300 kgs of pods, an average of 37 kg per store each week.
