Exceptional flavour, beautiful design, kinder materials. Three things we won’t sacrifice. For the past few years we have been working to find the most innovative materials to keep our coffee fresh and tasting its best while being kinder to the planet.
With the introduction of our new range of commercially compostable retail bags (and a 3kg bag later this year), all of our packaging will be recyclable or commercially compostable - meaning less waste going into landfill.
Why Compostable?
No system is perfect but we believe composting offers the only true closed-loop waste stream.
Going fully compostable with our packing means all our waste including coffee grinds, food scraps, takeaway cups and coffee bags can all be placed in the same bin and sent to our composting partners and converted to soil for growing more food. A truly circular system.
Please note, on our 250g retail bag, you have to remove the plastic valve before composting the bag.
It’s also cleaner - the non-GMO bioplastic used in our packaging has a carbon footprint 75 times less than conventional plastics.
Our alternative was to use a recyclable petroleum-based plastic bag. Soft plastic recycling is under enormous pressure with many recycling centres having to stockpile the raw material. If the material is recycled it is destined to become another plastic product that could ultimately end up in a landfill.
Taking ownership of the waste stream
For our packaging to return to the earth it has to enter the right waste stream - commercial compost. Local governments are still playing catch up here so if you don’t have access to a commercial compost waste stream this is our commitment - return to us.
Whether you are a cafe customer pumping through the kilos or left your reusable cup at home, you can return any of our packagings to your nearest Allpress store for disposal.
We have compost bins outside all our cafes and green bags behind the counter - you just have to ask.
Our partners
If you would like to set up a compost collection service for your business, get in touch with our trusted partners. And remember, if you can’t get access to a compostable waste collection near you, just return it to us.
New Zealand - We Compost
Australia - BioPak
United Kingdom - First Mile
What’s next?
The world is changing fast and so is the innovation of these materials. Our focus is committed to ongoing improvements. We are already working on the next generation of packaging which will feature home compostable materials including ziplock closures and valves. This is the next step on our journey to better.
Shop coffee range: AU / NZ / SG / UK
2021 Update
Fresher coffee and perfect crema from our shiny, new compostable packaging.
Why the change?
We knew our commitment to a more sustainable coffee bag would be a challenging journey but wow.
A global surge in demand for compostable materials combined with the logistical minefield of COVID-19 and the technical challenges of keeping our beautiful product perfectly fresh has caused us more than a few sleepless nights. The marriage of perfect product and sustainable materials was starting to feel out of reach.
But after weeks of rigorous taste testing, we are proud to announce we’ve cracked it with a very space-age looking material. Our new 250g retail bag is made from a plant-based film sprayed with a super fine layer of shimmering aluminium oxide. It looks a lot like our old foil-lined landfill bag and is just as effective for freshness. There’s just one difference - it’s 100% commercially compostable.
Next steps
We are rolling the new material out across our range of 250g retail bags over the coming weeks and have begun trials on a 1kg and 3kg wholesale version which will undergo similar testing through our cafe spaces. The wholesale bag has always been our goal - we produce almost half a million of them every year and it’s entirely within our grasp to divert these from landfill and turn them into compost. Fresher coffee and kinder materials - we are almost there.
To be extra clear – only our 250g bag is currently compostable. Our larger bags sizes will hopefully be coming online mid next year.
A reminder about disposal
These compostable materials only make a difference if they enter the correct waste stream. If you don’t have access to a curbside compostable collection you can return our packaging to any of our stores globally.
