Asda enables used coffee pods recycling across network

Customers will be able to deposit their used coffee pods at over 600 stores in the UK.

Asda has partnered with coffee pod recycling service Podback, to provide a simple and convenient way to recycle used coffee pods in over 600 of its stores.

Coffee pods are not suited for recycling through traditional routes, due to their small size, and because they contain organic material. Customers can now recycle their used aluminium and plastic coffee pods by filling a Podback bag and returning it to the toYou parcel returns service in their nearest participating Asda store.

“The partnership with Podback is one of many workstreams across Asda’s ESG strategy including broader commitments on packaging reduction, recyclability and recycled content. By offering the collection and recycling service with Asda toYou and Podback, we hope that we can make recycling more convenient than ever when shopping with Asda,” said Beth Fowler, Senior Manager – Healthy and Sustainable Choices at Asda.

The free to use Podback service was set up by Nestle and Jacobs Douwe Egberts in 2021 to make coffee pod recycling easy and convenient for consumers across the UK.

Through this scheme, plastic and aluminium pods are recycled in the UK. The coffee grounds are transformed by anaerobic digestion into renewable energy and soil improver, with the aluminium and plastic from the used pods being used in the manufacture of products such as drinks cans, building products and garden furniture.