We learn how the U.K.-based roaster is utilizing cans to offer sustainable coffee packaging options to their customers.
BY JAMES GALLAGHER
SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of Manifesto Coffee Roasters
It can be easy to throw away a coffee packet without first considering how it should be disposed of. Some packages look recyclable, but that does not mean that they actually are. Other coffee bags ask that you recycle by following a certain procedure, such as taking your bag to a large supermarket. The complexity is compounded here in the U.K. by the recycling capabilities that vary between council areas, thus resulting in a system where some packaging is recyclable in some areas but not others. Surely there is a better solution.
In the June + July 2021 issue of Barista Magazine, we discuss how compostability is a factor in selecting the best coffee packaging. Existing solutions for coffee packaging include paper bags, bags made of special recyclable material that can only be processed at certain facilities, bags made of material that can be composted, and compostable packets that come in recyclable boxes, among others. An increasing number of coffee roasters do have fully recyclable packaging available to customers, but many others are still finding solutions.
Manifesto Coffee
Manifesto Coffee, a specialty-coffee roaster founded in Perthshire, Scotland, by Alex MacIntyre and Lukasz Lewaszkiewicz, has been contemplating the problem of how to create a simple, recyclable design for their coffee packaging for a while. “There are a lot of things that bug me about coffee/food/drink packaging, the labeling in particular,” Alex says. “Terms such as ‘Not yet recycled,’ which doesn’t actually clarify that it isn’t recyclable, and ‘100% compostable’ are deceptive, tricking people into thinking they’re doing the right thing.”
Manifesto Coffee is one of many specialty-coffee roasters across the United Kingdom, and indeed across the world, that are trying to think of and implement coffee packaging solutions that are easy for their customers to recycle. Increasingly, specialty-coffee roasters are making recycling information clear on their packaging. This is definitely needed.
Using Beverage Cans
After considering many options, Manifesto chose a ubiquitous form of coffee packaging—and one that can be recycled easily across the U.K.—beverage cans. Alex goes on to say, “(Beverage cans are) the world’s most recycled object: lightweight, cheap, and they are the perfect material for packaging coffee, being airtight. Over 75% of beverage cans in the U.K. are recycled each year, and each one can 100% be smelted down and remade into another can in its entirety in less than 60 days. The high rate of recycling of cans means the emissions produced in production are lower than other packaging solutions.”
Beverage cans met Manifesto’s goal for their new coffee bean packaging. “The solution had to be: made from a readily available material with an already established and extensive infrastructure for disposal and reuse; a recognizable object that people would understand intuitively how to correctly deal with its disposal; good for coffee to keep it fresh for as long as possible; affordable; and lightweight, to cut down on both logistic costs and logistic emissions,” explains Alex.
This is a high bar to meet, especially for a small, upstart roastery without a large team who can work on research and development. Manifesto’s work attests to the extent to which even the smallest coffee roasters are considering coffee packaging and its environmental credentials as a key part of their product development process.
How to Produce Recyclable Cans For Coffee Packaging
This was not an easy transition for Manifesto. There is not a collected set of industry best practices around how to package coffee from a sustainability perspective. And so, Manifesto had to pave their own way. When asked about the main steps involved in production, Alex told me all of the following were necessary to bring the recycled can packaging to fruition: “Research into materials, coffee outgassing, finding a company that could produce a more appropriate end cap (the top of the can) for coffee, sourcing machinery to seal them and getting that machinery customized to apply the new end cap to the can, testing. … It was a long process largely based around a simple gamble of, ‘I think we can do this.’”
Considerations
Scale was an important factor for Manifesto to consider. Like many coffee roasters, Manifesto is small and cannot meet your average minimum can order from larger manufacturers. As a result, a lot of work had to go into finding a supplier that would be able to meet their scale. If more roasters decide to use cans for their packaging, this barrier may well not be as much of an issue. For now, however, it is an important factor for any roastery considering beverage cans as a potential form of packaging.
A Sustainable Future for Manifesto
Manifesto Coffee is the first specialty-coffee roaster in Scotland to explore the use of recycled cans, having tried compostable bags beforehand. Manifesto, like many other roasters, has also made compromises in packaging over the last year due to packaging supply chain issues brought on by the pandemic. But they hope this coffee can project will be here to stay and can set a precedent around creating sustainable, recyclable coffee packaging.
In active development since August of 2020, Manifesto is about to launch their recyclable coffee cans to the world. Orders can come with a plastic reusable cap if you would like to reseal your can of coffee beans. The cap is an optional add-on, so if you have already purchased a Manifesto coffee, you can reuse the cap you have. And, unlike many coffee packages, the can comes with a very simple recycling message: “100% recyclable.”
