Supermarket chain Aldi is claiming a grocery first with the soon to be launch recycling scheme for its own label coffee pods after it confirmed it's joining the Podback service to allow customers to recycle their used coffee, tea and hot chocolate pods.
The scheme works by getting customers to order recycling bags from the Podback website which can then be used to store used Aldi-own label pods before dropping them off at one of 6,500 Collect+ drop off points around the country.
The move makes Aldi the first UK supermarket to offer the service, one that will help see up to 268t of plastic and 20t of aluminium pods each year.
Richard Gorman, Plastics and 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, said: "We are delighted to welcome Aldi as the first supermarket brand member of Podback. This marks a key milestone for the programme and we are looking forward to working with Aldi to promote our service to their customers. We hope other retailers will follow Aldi's lead and offer their own-brand pod customers the opportunity to recycle through Podback."
Podback launched last year and is the first coffee pod recycling service of its kind in the UK. It was set up by Nestle and Jacobs Douwe Egberts UK and membership has since grown to include 16 brands from across the coffee sector.
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. The used coffee grounds also go through anaerobic digestion to produce a combination of biogas and soil improver.