Veolia is working in partnership with Birmingham City Council and has teamed up with coffee pod recycling service, Podback, to offer Birmingham residents the opportunity to recycle their coffee pods across Birmingham Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) in a sustainable way.
Birmingham residents can expect to see this exciting new addition to the recycling stream now live at the city’s HRCs. Residents are reminded to separate plastic pods from aluminium pods and to book an appointment online before visiting.
Podback will take the used coffee pods from the HRCs to be processed in a specialist plant where the plastic and aluminium casings are separated so they can go on to be recycled into new products such as drinks cans, car components, construction products, etc. The coffee grounds go on to be turned into soil improver and renewable energy.
Mark Powell, General Manager at Veolia in Birmingham, said: “Veolia, the UK’s leading resource management company, is really excited to work in partnership with Podback and Birmingham City Council to introduce another recycling stream to the city’s network of recycling centres for Birmingham residents.
“Residents will now be able to play a part in recycling used coffee pods so they can go on to be made into new products and renewable energy.
“We’re proud to take this next step to help the city make a positive impact on the environment and the planet.”
Cllr Majid Mahmood, Cabinet Member for Environment at Birmingham City Council, said: “It’s great news for our environment that we are able to expand the offer at our Household Recycling Centres in this way.
“We know many residents in Birmingham love their coffee – and that a significant number of households have machines that use pods to create their favourite drinks. This will enable people to recycle the pods in a simple and convenient way when they visit one of our HRCs, helping increase the amount of waste we recycle.
“We’re always looking at innovative and feasible ways in which we can avoid less friendly methods of disposing of waste – and when they are viable, we will look to embrace them, just like this.”
Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Podback, said: “Podback’s aim is to make it easier for consumers to recycle their used coffee pods. We’re delighted to be helping Birmingham City Council increase the amount it recycles. We hope the service will prove popular and are sure it will make an important contribution towards the Council’s environmental objectives.”