Consumers will soon be able to locate coffee pod recycling facilities in Aldi for the first time, after the supermarket announced it will join the UK-wide Podback scheme.
Aldi will be the inaugural supermarket member of the Podback coffee pod recycling scheme, which was launched last year by Nestle and Jacobs Douwe Egberts UK to help reduce the amount of packaging filtering into landfill and incineration sites.
As part of its membership, Aldi will introduce its own-label pods into the Podback scheme and help promote the free coffee pod recycling service to shoppers throughout the country in more than 980 stores.
The supermarket chain’s involvement in the scheme will begin from early next year, when Aldi customers will be able to visit the Podback website to either order recycling bags. These bags can be filled and taken to one of 6,500 Collect+ drop-off points, or alternatively consumers can register for curbside collections if they live in a participating local authority area.
Pods recycled through Podback are reprocessed within the UK. Recycled aluminium pods are used in the manufacture of beverage cans and car components, and plastic coffee pods into items such as furniture, industrial packaging, and building products.
According to Podback, the used coffee grounds also go through anaerobic digestion to produce a combination of biogas and soil improver.
Richard Gorman, plastics & packaging director at Aldi, said: “We’re pleased to be joining Podback on this journey – especially as the first supermarket member.
“It’s important to us that we help customers do the right thing once our hot drink pods have been used, and we look forward to seeing how our partnership with Podback progresses.”
Rick Hindley, executive director at Podback, added: “We hope other retailers will follow Aldi’s lead and offer their own-brand pod customers the opportunity to recycle through Podback.”
Podback membership has grown to include 16 brands from across the coffee sector, includign Pret a Manger. As well as coffee pod recycling, the programme allow consumers to recycle their used tea and hot chocolate pods.
[Image credit: Green Retail World]
