Why we use home compostable packaging for our coffee

Our search for less environmentally damaging packaging started with a stack of coffee orders all packed up and ready to go out to customers. I suddenly imagined all those plastic pouches going in to the bin and landfill, and then another stack when our next delivery went out, and another and another…

I didn’t want our little business to be responsible for piles of plastic building in landfills or worse, the oceans and so began the search for better packaging. It wasn’t easy.

Coffee packaging is typically made up of multiple layers all laminated together. There’s usually a plastic outer where the branding and product information goes, a foil inner to create an air barrier, then often a third plastic layer inside. Coffee needs to release CO2 built up during the roasting process otherwise it becomes stale, so there is usually a plastic one-way valve to let CO2 out but prevent oxygen getting in. All those materials combined makes it very difficult to recycle regular coffee bags. Even without the multiple layers, most plastic is not recycled even if it is possible to recycle it and so we decided to rule out plastic completely and set our eyes on compostable materials. That involved a lot of testing of different materials. We wanted home compostable, as not everybody has access to industrial processing facilities and even if they do, many don’t accept compostable packaging. That ruled out a lot of options straight away as most compostable packaging we found required industrial facilities.

We ordered a lot of samples from a lot of different manufacturers, and put them all through our own home compost heap and worm farm, recording how long it took to break down and whether there was any noticeable traces of material in the compost. It was a slow process but worth it. Compostable packaging is far more expensive than plastic packaging and so we needed to know that they were worth the expense. In the end we settled for Natureflex which is made from wood pulp and breaks down in to carbon biomass and water. In ideal conditions it breaks down in 12 weeks but our compost heap is far from ideal as we add to it ad hoc rather than build up a proper hot composting heap so if it can break down in our heap, it can probably break down in anybody’s compost! It took around 5-6 months to be completely unnoticeable in our compost.

We know that this is still not without fault. Not everybody home composts so no doubt some are still heading to landfill. But they don’t require oil extraction to produce which is a bonus, and they have a lower carbon footprint in manufacturing than using paper. We did use paper for a while but it lets the coffee go stale very quickly and even though we advise people to transfer the coffee to an airtight container, many didn’t which creates food waste. There is no perfect system. We do work with zero waste stores to offer a refill your own service. Sadly most have closed down because it is a difficult business to run (we know all too well, we used to have a plastic-free shop) but you can still find our coffee at Shop Zero in Nottingham and take it home in your own containers. If you own a scoop shop or are interested in selling coffee for people to take home in their own containers, get in touch!

It also has a downside from a marketing point of view. We see so many coffee brands get their beautifully designed packaging shared on social media but it is difficult to print on home compostable material without adding in extra layers that slows down the process. We opted for printing our information on regular paper that can be recycled and sandwiching it between two clear Natureflex bags, allowing the extra protection of a multilayer bag without compromising on compostability. But it does make our packaging have less aesthetic appeal, but we’re happy with substance over style.

We’ll carry on researching packaging, maybe better options will come along. We also need more producers to use compostables and for industrial facilities to accept compostables more widely. The main barrier to this is the use of anaerobic digesters in which compostable materials don’t break down effectively, and the continued use of plastic which makes it difficult for industrial composting facilities to identify if packaging in compost waste streams are indeed compostable or are plastic waste that will contaminate the end product. I know that buying compost has become increasingly difficult because of plastic contamination from green waste processing facilities. To address this, we need to eliminate plastic packaging and replace it with compostables much more widely. This is where consumer demand can play a role. We can reject plastic packaging where possible and lobby for alternatives. And it would be remiss of us not to say support small independent businesses who are taking the financial hit of buying more expensive packaging in to order to reduce their environmental impact!