Podback and Morrisons claim to have recycled over 10 million coffee pods in 2025 so far, with the top performing Morrisons store recycling 5 tonnes in just over six months.
Following Morrisons’ initial trial of in-store Podback coffee pod recycling units in July 2023, units were installed in 411 Morrisons stores between January and June 2025. Customers can pick up Podback recycling bags from the customer services desk and drop them back at any Morrisons store with a dedicated Podback point.
Once dropped off, the pods are collected by Podback and recycled in the UK to produce new products including car components, drink cans and building products, while the coffee grounds are also reprocessed to create renewable energy and soil improver.
The companies say customer uptake of the scheme has been positive, with the 10m coffee pods collected equivalent to each of the participating Morrisons stores collecting more than 24,000 coffee pods. The top performing store in Woking, Surrey, apparently recycled 5 tonnes – equivalent to over 334,000 pods – in just over six months.
Since Podback’s bins were installed, Morrisons says it has seen a 17% increase in customers recycling other items including soft plastics, batteries, ink cartridges and vapes.
Podback also partnered with ASDA in January, offering consumers the option to recycle their used coffee pods in over 600 of its stores. Podback users can recycle their used aluminium and plastic coffee pods by filling a Podback bag and returning it to the toYou parcel returns service in their nearest participating Asda store.
This month Nespresso Canada and Éco Entreprises Québec announced plans to expand their ‘green bag’ coffee capsule recycling programme across all Quebec municipalities, aiming to simplify the recycling process while complying with EPR. Certain regions of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia have also embraced the system in a bid to facilitate ‘easy and effective’ coffee capsule recycling.
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