MILAN – Lavazza has announced its intention to replace its entire range of coffee pods in the UK with new eco-friendly ones. Launching the innovation on Monday, the Italian coffee giant said it planned to replace its entire range of home-use capsules with the new eco-friendly alternatives by the end of the year, while maintaining the same retail price.
The move is the first of its kind from a major manufacturer and will be welcome news to environmentalists as 20 billion single use pods end up in landfill every year, with it estimated that it takes up to 500 years for the pods to breakdown.
“For Lavazza Group, sustainability is fully integrated in the business strategy,” said David Rogers, UK Managing Director of Lavazza.
“This major investment confirms our commitment to excellence and sustainable development,” he added.
Lavazza have developed a new biopolymer-based material for their pods named Eco Caps that will break down in compost in around 6 months when mixed with food waste.
Where this is unavailable for some councils, the company have teamed up with Terracycle so customers can drop off capsules to be composted industrially.
The popularity of single-serve coffee pods has grown rapidly in recent years, making up an increasing proportion of the 95 million cups of coffee drunk in the UK every day.
Worldwide it is estimated that 20 billion capsules are used every year.
