The UK’s first 100 per cent home-compostable coffee packaging is here

In collaboration with Grounded Packaging, Leeds-based coffee roastery North Star Coffee has created the first 100 per cent home compostable packaging for its 250g coffee bags, the first of its kind in the UK, says North Star in a release. According to the roastery the new coffee bags also have the highest percentage of bio-based material of any on the market, with collaborators Grounded calculating environmental impact and offsetting requirements to account for global transportation too.

Of the several current compostable coffee bags on the market, many will only break down in an industrial compost, “and [they] must have several elements (such as the label, valve and resealable strip) removed first,” points out the roastery in a release. With its company and wider industry so reliant on elements such as seals and valves, North Star spent lockdown looking into ways to reduce plastic in its roastery. The home-compostable solution was made with approachability in mind, particularly for first-time coffee buyers.

For the 97 per cent of people in the UK without a compost bin, North Star is also offering to compost packaging for customers when they drop bags back at its roastery or coffee shop, to maximise the effect of the initiative.

North Star hopes to see its new materials make an impact nationally. The roastery’s director Holly Bowman tells It’s Nice That: “We have already had numerous discussions with other coffee and tea companies who wanted to understand more about the material. Our hope is that other businesses take the plunge and follow suit so that the supply of this material generally becomes more accessible and affordable.”

“I would love to see larger retailers embracing the demand for compostable packaging and adapting their own supplier requirements to accommodate it on their shelves.”