Sustainability in Action

Case Study – Recyclable Packaging for Bermuda Coffee

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.

The ethos for quality, fair trading and sustainability is clear in many small-medium enterprises, with many opting to support smaller cooperatives across key growing regions, or sourcing from individual farms to provide full traceability.

This sentiment also needs to translate to product packaging as well.

Sustainable Product, Sustainable Packaging

Through our packaging team, Close the Loop create 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 includes aluminium or metalised films to provide shelf life. While great for the coffee itself, this type of packaging was not designed for sustainability due to the inability to separate out different layers and provide an avenue for recycling.

Our 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) and The Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging (CEFLEX). The material used to create the coffee bag maintains product shelf life while eliminating the need for problematic materials.

Bermuda Coffee

Bermuda Coffee is about one thing- getting lost in coffee. They engaged Close the Loop to create something truly unique in the space- a simple coffee bag for both 1kg and 250g that was made for recycling, and that had a take-back program in place to provide a distinct recycling avenue to their wholesale customers.

It was important for Bermuda’s bags to be made from a single polyethylene polymer (PE) for recyclability, to be easy to fill and seal, all while maintaining the required high barrier to oxygen and allowing natural gases from the roasted beans to escape via a one-way degassing coffee valve insert. They also had to maintain a level of rigidity to stand up on their own and present on shelf, which can be challenging to do with the softness of traditional polyethylene (PE) materials often used in recyclable alternatives. Close the Loop managed to create the bag to fit within these confines, including a PE coffee valve and zipper closure on the 250g size to match the bag’s mono-polymer structure and keep the whole pack recyclable.

Closing the Loop with Collection

The dedication Close the Loop to sustainability in coffee goes one step further than the adoption of more sustainable packaging- we are actively recycling these types of coffee bags.

As a leader in the circular economy space, Close the Loop are helping coffee businesses to enhance their corporate social responsibility through the implementation of packaging, programs and processes that divert materials from landfill.

For Bermuda, they simply pick-up the coffee bags from their customers during the next delivery of product, with this reverse-logistics model minimising the carbon footprint and increasing efficiency for Bermuda. Product is then bailed in a single location before being provided to Close the Loop for processing- with all local waste, processed on-shore in Melbourne, Australia, where Bermuda and their main customer base is located.

As Bermuda was a packaging client of Close the Loop, the ability to create a recycling program for them fit into the Circular Contract model that the Close the Loop business uses for soft plastics collection to encourage positive end-market outcomes. Balancing the amount of product Bermuda purchased in packaging from Close the Loop with the amount they then provided back to them for recycling provides a model where packaging creation can help fund and support the end recycling of the very same materials. The program is advertised on-pack by Bermuda and Close the Loop to generate interest and knowledge for consumers.

“Coffee brands like Bermuda 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.”

–  Paul Belnick, Close the Loop Flexible Packaging Account Manager

Utilising mono-material coffee bags allows Close the Loop to recycle the materials on behalf of Bermuda and their customers with Zero Waste to Landfill and create their product  r-Flex, a recycled plastic for injection moulding. This material can be used to create a variety of plastic products in their local region of Australia, including pallets, tubs, crates, and other commercial packing and distribution solutions.

Having the same company not just supplying the packaging, but taking it back adds tremendous value for coffee brands like Bermuda and their downstream customers. On the commercial side, Bermuda are provided a one-stop shop for their packaging sustainability needs, with Close the Loop providing a secure, cost-effective recycling service with guaranteed zero waste to landfill. This contributes heavily to Bermuda’s corporate governance and simplifies their supply chain to work with a sole entity on both ends. The system also benefits Bermuda’s wholesale and food service partners by providing a recycling system that is of no cost to them to integrate within their own small businesses. For Bermuda, it also encourages their customers to buy more from them in order to take advantage of such a take-back and recycling program compared to competing coffee bean roasters without a solution.

The Future of Packaging Recycling- Circular Contracts

Traditional recycling methods have not been effective due to the limited end markets for recycled materials, partly influenced by the poor design of packaging that hinders our ability to separate and recover materials of value.

Brands looking to bolster their ESG can partner with Close the Loop Group to form a Circular Contract, allowing them to reduce materials going to landfill and achieve better sustainability outcomes through the redesign, recovery, and recycling of soft plastic packaging. This is then supported by commitment to buy-back recycled content products like rFlex® for use in their own supply chain tertiary or bulk handling packaging. Circular Contracts inform a circular economy and ensure balance between materials going in and out of the system, keeping materials in circulation longer and reducing the need for virgin plastics.

To find out more about how your business can work with Close the Loop for more sustainable outcomes, please contact us.