packagingnews.co.uk

Flying start as Kenco recycler collects 4.5m packs in 10 months

A recently-launched project that turns used Kenco coffee pouches into shopping bags has already collected more than 4.5 million items of packaging, its organisers have revealed.

Terracycle, which launched in the UK last September, has released figures showing that it has collected 49 tonnes of pre- and post-consumer waste for its upcycling scheme, in which it directly uses waste materials in the manufacture of longer-lasting items.

So far, the business said, 41,000 people have signed up to collect the used packaging and some other plastic products in programmes that Terracycle calls ‘Brigades’.

Each Brigade collects a specific type of packaging – the four currently underway collect Kenco Eco Refill pouches, Tassimo coffee capsules, Ella’s Kitchen baby food pouches and a schools programme to collect Berol, Sharpie and PaperMate pens.

Under the scheme, participants collect items including yoghurt pots, pens, coffee packs, coffee discs and baby food pouches and Terracycle gives money to charity for every item it receives or pays the participants.

For instance, it gives 2p to a charity or school of a participant’s choice for every piece of Kenco or Tassimo packaging it collects.

'Massive potential'
TerraCycle also collects unusable packaging materials from its partner brands’ factories which it upcycles alongside the post-consumer waste to make reusable shopping bags and diaries.

Tom Szaky, who founded TerraCycle at Princeton University in the US in 2001 and is now its chief executive, said: "UK consumers have reacted extremely positively to the opportunity to reuse, instead of discarding, this packaging.

"In one programme alone, we have already collected almost 900,000 Tassimo T-discs and Kenco Eco Refill packs. That shows the massive potential these programmes have to grow in the UK and beyond."