Pret A Manger joins coffee pod recycling service

Customers can recycle their pods via Collect+ or through kerbside collections in selected areas

Pret A Manger has joined nationwide coffee pod recycling service Podback, the first food-to-go retailer to do so, helping customers to recycle their aluminum at-home coffee pods.

The chain’s organic and Arabica coffee was launched as an at-home coffee retail range in May 2020 and expanded in July 2021 by introducing two aluminum coffee pod blends that are compatible with Nespresso coffee machines.

Through Podback, used aluminium pods are turned into ingots and used in the manufacture of new products such as beverage cans. The used coffee grounds, meanwhile, go through anaerobic digestion to produce a combination of biogas and soil improver.
 
Rick Hindley, executive director of Podback, said: “Expanding the scheme to include more brands has been one of our priorities since launching last year, so we’re thrilled to have Pret on-board. We welcome other retailers and brands to join to make it the scheme even more inclusive for consumers.”

Guy Meakin, UK managing director of Pret A Manger, added: “We’re always looking for new ways to reduce our impact on the environment, whether through introducing coffee cup recycling stations in-shop or our 50p reusable cup discount. Now that our coffee is increasingly enjoyed in homes around the country, we wanted to find a solution that would help our customers recycle their Pret coffee pods easily.”

Pret’s coffee pods are available for purchase from its shops, Ocado, Sainsburys, Tesco and Amazon.