Packaging
Starting as we mean to go on
There's already way too much plastic out there, especially in the single use space. We have looked at each part of the packaging for our 250g and 1kg pouches of coffee and ensured the whole bag, label and valve will decompose in a compost bin at home.
We have looked at the way our coffee is packaged and made every effort to ensure the pouches can be thrown into any domestic compost bin and the whole package will break down over the course of 6 months.
To ensure we these pouches do fully compost down, we have dropped some pouches into our own home compost bin and will monitor the progress of the breakdown over time.
Check back here soon and we can update you on the progress!
Compostable Pouches
Our coffee pouches will be heat sealed on site, but once opened, they are resealable to retain freshness.
The pouches also contain a degassing valve, as freshly roasted coffee continues to release some Carbon Dioxide for a few days after roasting. Both the valve and the re-sealer are made of biodegradable materials so will compost with the rest of the pouch.
Tagged up
There is no point in creating or using compostable pouches if the labels we attach to them contain harmful plastics and glues that don't organically break down.
We want our customers feeling comfortable throwing the whole pouch into the composting bin without having to cut off labels here and there.
So, we use grass paper labels which match the colour of the coffee pouches but still compost with the rest of the packaging.
Thinking about next steps...
The one component we are yet to fully crack is the ink used in the labelling of our products. We are using as little ink as possible as we currently print the labels ourselves in house, but this requires the use of an office printer.
This solution is ok, but not good enough for us.
We are therefore in the process of creating a solution involving soy-based inks which means more of, if not all of the ink will be organic and will break down better than conventional printer ink. This may mean the labels look a little different, but we will aim to keep the changes down to a minimum.
Watch this space and will let you know when we implement it.
Reuse - Recycle
If you are a regular customer or local business, we are happy to discuss alternative packaging options such as food safe refillable containers.
Full Transparency
Please use the links below to learn more about our packaging suppliers and delivery partners to see the work they are doing to make our supply chain even greener:
https://www.pouchshop.co.uk/ecoguide
https://www.royalmail.com/sustainability
https://getstamped.co.uk/environmental-impact/
https://www.a4labels.com/eco-friendly-labelling-environmental-labels/