Global coffee roasters have worked to build strong partnerships throughout their supply chain in order to bring their customers specialty coffee products of high quality while maintaining ethical standards.
This sentiment also needs to translate to product packaging as well, says Close the Loop.
This is why, through its packaging team, Close the Loop creates simple, recycle-friendly coffee bags that both provide the required product protection and help reduce packaging waste.
Roasted coffee packaging is often crafted from multiple layers of different plastics and include aluminium or metallised films to provide shelf life. While great for the coffee itself, the company says this type of packaging was not designed for sustainability and requires re-engineering to be made with end of life in mind.
According to the company, its high-barrier coffee bag alternatives are made out of a single plastic type, making it more recyclable than a typical coffee bag and aligning with the sustainable packaging guidelines set out by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO).
The material used to create the coffee bag maintains product shelf life, while eliminating the need for problematic materials like PET or aluminium. This includes recyclable degassing coffee valves placed within the bags themselves.
Close the Loop have a partnership in Australia with Wipf, the European supplier of coffee valves to the global market.
The dedication Close the Loop has to sustainability in coffee also goes one step further than the adoption of more sustainable packaging, as the company is also actively recycling these types of coffee bags – implementing packaging, programs and processes that divert materials from landfill.
“Coffee brands choose to work with Close the Loop because of the unique circular benefits they receive from us with the creation of better, more sustainable coffee packaging and then our ability to recycle the same packaging with zero waste to landfill,” said Paul Belnick, flexible packaging account manager at Close the Loop.
Coffee packaging is recycled through Close the Loop’s soft plastics recycling line into a product called rFlex, which is a 100 per cent recycled plastic resin used for manufacturing items such as pallets, shopping trolleys, baskets, crates, and other supply chain items.
