“Podback’s vision is a world where every coffee pod enjoyed is recycled, and we’re looking at all avenues and options to make this happen,” Rick Hindley, Executive Director, Podback

Rick Hindley joined Podback as executive director in May 2021, soon after the scheme launched. Rick is responsible for setting and overseeing the strategic direction of Podback, including working with local authorities, retailers and coffee brands to grow the scheme.

Rick has held several high-profile positions in the aluminium packaging sector, initiating and advising on the development of collection and recycling programmes in the UK and Europe. He joined Podback from the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro), where he had been executive director since 2007. During his tenure at Alupro, aluminium packaging saw record-breaking recycling rates. Rick previously sat on the Government’s Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP).

1. What was the motive behind establishing the non-profit organisation, Podback? How does it suffice the basic operational expenditures?

Podback was created by the leading pod coffee brands, Nestle and Jacobs Douwe Egberts, to provide consumers with a single and easily accessible coffee pod recycling system in the UK.   The founders’ vision was to establish a cross-industry scheme based on collaboration between brands. We are asking any brand that makes plastic or aluminium pods to join the scheme, and since launching, we have increased our membership, now covering 21 brands across the pod category. Podback member brands now account for over 80% of the UK pod market. The service is funded by the member brands, with each brand’s contribution based on the proportion of pods they place on the UK market. This funding covers the operational costs: A nationwide collection infrastructure through partnerships with local authorities and a UK-based reprocessing infrastructure. Podback funding enables local authorities to add coffee pods to their regular kerbside recycling service at no additional cost. 

2. What is the projected volume of aluminium coffee pods collected by Podback per annum, and what does it do with the haul?

Pod sales in the UK exceed 1.8 billion annually, with Podback members accounting for 80% of the market. Although we have systems in place to measure the volumes of pods collected and materials recycled via the different collection routes, we are unable to share figures due to commercial confidentiality.

We know that consumers want an effective recycling option for their pods. Research conducted for Podback showed that 90% of pod users wanted to be able to recycle their coffee pods through their usual household recycling. 

Podback’s vision is a world where every coffee pod enjoyed is recycled, and we’re looking at all avenues and options to make this happen. But, as a start-up business, we are still on a learning curve.

We have been very encouraged by the uptake of the scheme so far; in the eleven local authorities where we have mobilised kerbside pod collections, we are seeing average participation rates, which exceed 60%. Outside the kerbside system, volumes through the Return to Yodel drop-off points are also increasing month on month and are currently up 35% in 2022.

We are committed to recycling the aluminium and plastic coffee pods and the bags used for collection in the UK.

Aluminium and plastic pods are collected separately in colour-coded recycling bags, which are provided free to the consumer. The plastic and aluminium pods are processed by specialist recycling companies based in Yorkshire and Cheshire, respectively. Bags of pods are shredded to remove the pods and then extract the coffee. The coffee grounds are sent for anaerobic digestion, which produces renewable energy (biogas) and soil improver. Plastic and aluminium are recycled and used in the manufacture of new products such as garden furniture and building products, beverage cans and car components. 

All Podback bags are recycled by a facility in East Yorkshire which specialises in recycling flexible plastics, such as food wrappers and films. The facility produces plastic pellets which are used in a wide range of manufacturing industries.

3. How successful is Podback’s collaboration with individual UK Councils, and what benefit does it have other than propagating environmental consciousness in the community?
  
We're pleased with the progress of our kerbside collection programme, which is now available to over 675,000 households in eleven local authority areas across the country. We believe these programmes will help increase the number of consumers who recycle their coffee pods. This is why our support for local authority kerbside services includes a marketing communications campaign to ensure residents are aware of the service and encouraged to recycle. 

Thanks to the scheme's success so far, we have an active pipeline of local authorities who are in the process of launching the scheme in their areas. We are on course to cover 1 million households in the next few months, and our overall ambition is to provide the kerbside service to 50% of UK households within the next five years, giving more coffee lovers the option to recycle their pods through their household recycling.

4. After Morrisons and Aldi, which big supermarket chain will probably get associated with Podback? 

Whilst we can’t divulge details of ongoing discussions, we are currently actively engaging with major retailers, including supermarkets and coffee shops, regarding involvement with Podback.  Aldi and Ocado are both members, meaning that their pods can be recycled through Podback.  Morrisons is supporting the programme by making recycling bags available across their supermarket estate.

5. Will Podback ever promote its ideologies to the Eastern world after successfully initiating protocols for sustainable livelihood and proper waste collection on the European front?
 
Podback currently only covers the UK and Northern Ireland. Although we are exploring opportunities to expand the programme to include the Republic of Ireland, it will be some time before we look beyond this to other markets. Our founder members do run coffee pod collection programmes in other markets, but Podback is the first category-wide collection programme supported by competing brands, and as such has attracted interest from markets beyond the UK. 

6. What opinion do you have about Scotland’s DRS scheme? Do you think the UK Government’s opposition is justified?

Pods are not considered as ‘packaging’ under the Government’s current regulations so will not be impacted by the DRS or EPR reforms in Scotland or the rest of the UK.

However, DRS will obviously have a direct impact on local authority kerbside collections reducing the range of materials and volume of drinks containers collected. As a result, local authorities will have to redesign their collection systems, and are more likely to have additional capacity available to collect coffee pods.