A recycling initiative which reduces the environmental impact of home coffee machines has hit a massive milestone, with over a million coffee pods now recycled.
Published: Wednesday, 21st February 2024
A recycling initiative which reduces the environmental impact of home coffee machines has hit a massive milestone, with over a million coffee pods now recycled.
Cherwell District Council works with not-for-profit organisation Podback to collect residents’ used coffee pods and ensure the materials that make them up are recycled.
Collections started at the end of May 2023 and over 3,000 households have signed up and are using the service. Together, they have recycled 1,048,397 pods, tipping the scales at 16.4 tonnes.
The news is another measure of residents’ commitment to sorting their waste correctly after the district was ranked 31st out of 210 waste collection authorities in a national recycling table for England.
Councillor Andrew McHugh, Portfolio Holder for Cleaner and Greener Communities, said: “Waste reduction and recycling are key commitments for the council, but we can only make a real difference with the support of our communities.
“Reaching this million pods milestone only eight months into a new service is a real sign of residents’ commitment to environmental sustainability. Their efforts with coffee pods make an important contribution to our work to improve the district’s recycling rates and, like all recycling, it saves energy and reduces reliance on the extraction of raw materials.”
When people sign up and set up an online Podback account, they receive two free rolls of bags in the post. When they run out, they can order more through an online account.
Depending on whether they use aluminium or plastic pods, people will receive white or green bags. This allows the different materials to be separated into different waste streams to facilitate recycling.
Tea and hot chocolate pods are also accepted. After collection, the pods are taken to specialist reprocessing plants in the UK.
They are shredded to remove the coffee grounds. The plastic and aluminium are then transformed into new products, including beverage cans, car components, building products or plastic garden furniture.
The coffee grounds are processed by anaerobic digestion, which creates renewable energy and soil conditioner.
To find out more about Podback and to sign up, residents can visit visit our Podback webpages.