British retailer Waitrose has announced that it will start selling private-label home-compostable coffee pods by December 2018.
It will be the first major supermarket chain in the UK to have its own private-label line of home-compostable products.
The new capsules are made from cardboard packaging and will be compatible with Nespresso machines, according to the firm.
Recycling small capsules can pose a challenge, and as a third of people in the UK own coffee-pod machines, the move has been cited as an important one by the company.
The sales manager for coffee at Waitrose, Polly Astbury, said, “Our customers love coffee and worry about the waste pods can create. By being the first supermarket to launch its own home-compostable coffee pods, we’re really happy to be able to offer a solution. We’re committed to finding environmentally friendly packaging alternatives and are excited by this next step."
Commitment To Sustainability
Waitrose committed to the removal of disposable in-store cups back in April. In January, it committed to eliminate the use of black plastic in the packaging of its products by 2019.
Waitrose currently operates 353 stores across the UK, but that number could be amended downwards in the coming years, as the John Lewis Group, which owns the banner, has warned of declining profits, reporting a 22% drop in core profit.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Matthieu Chassain. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
