Packaging (aka the bain of our life!)
We love roasting coffee, we also love drinking coffee, but a byproduct of this luxury item is it's packaging, for us this comes in the form of a bag.
The bag has a few jobs it must perform in order to be useful.
- It must hold coffee!
- It must shade the coffee from degrading UV light.
- It must also block out oxygen and moisture. Both major foes to freshness.
- As well as all this it needs to stand out,look good, and convey useful information about itself and the company.
Actually quite a lot for just a bag. This makes it all the more sad that it's destined for a very short life!
So with all this in mind and considering we're coffee roasters and not packaging manufacturers, we have to choose the best solution available to us today!
Why not plastic?
Even if recyclable, plastic is still produced using petroleum, a non renewable fossil fuel. Coffee packaging has to be made from virgin material, as it is not currently possible to produce coffee packaging with recycled plastic. If not recycled it takes over 1,000 years for plastic packaging to completely disintegrate, and even then the microplastics continue to filter through water, soil and animals.
But what’s wrong with recyclable plastic?
We are not confident that plastic is actually being recycled.
Britain does not have the infrastructure to recycle its own plastic waste. Roughly two-thirds of plastic waste in the UK is sent overseas to be recycled. This waste is sold via brokers and shipped to countries such as Egypt and Malaysia. These countries do not have the facilities to deal with this waste and it is often dumped in landfill or burnt unsafely in open fires, damaging local ecosystems and emitting toxic fumes.
We do not believe in sending plastics to developing nations to be “recycled”. There’s also a definite carbon cost in shipping waste across the globe.
What should I do with my empty Pilgrims bag?
Simply pop them into your normal paper recycling, or even use them to start the fire!
What are the bags made from?
Our bags are made from FSC certified paper, right here in the UK :-)
Our labels are also recyclable and compostable and are made from cane fibre or kraft paper with a compostable adhesive, meaning they do not have to be removed after use.
If you’re concerned about disposing of your bags in the correct way, feel free to return them to us at Pilgrims Coffee, Falkland House, Marygate, The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, TD15 2SJ.
And we will ensure they are responsibly disposed of.
I hope you understand our reasonings, we are constantly searching for the best available option. And remember if you live nearby you can always pop in with your reusable container and we can fill it for you.
