Our packaging has changed a lot over the years. Each time it has been for a good reason and each time our new packaging has sought to improve and solve problems presented by the previous iteration. This July we are making a further change to our packaging and replacing our tins with a coffee bag. This is a temporary solution while we research other options on the market to determine what packaging will suit our needs best and provide the most sustainable soliution.
Back in summer 2023 we launched our current packaging - the branded refillable tin. Check out our blog Coffee Tins and Refils for a rundown on all of our packaging choices up until this point and an explanation of how we ended up with coffee tins. We love our tins for so many reasons - we truly believe that refilling is the most eco concious option, they are sturdy and handsome, we love how they sit neatly on our shelves and fit into our lovely shipping boxes. We get compliments on them all the time. But....
There is always a but isn't there? No matter how much we love something it is important to keep thinking about it and to take on feedback and to try to improve further if possible. So here are the things we have learned in using tins as our packaging for the past three years:
The vast majority are single use
This is a big one. I had (perhaps naively) thought that with a refillable option we would sell more and more refills rather than new units and slowly our new packaging needs would plateau or even decline. That is the dream right? To slowly reduce your single use impact on the world. When I look back now I realise how hopelessly optimistic this was and in fact, even though refills have definitely increased in the past three years, the actual number of tins we go through only increases. It's a good problem to have - it's clear people are loving the coffee.
Space
Our tins take up a lot of space. Whether they are empty or full, they take up the same. This does cause us storage issues. in fact we have a whole storage container which we use just to hold our packaging. When it arrives, in a giant container because the MOQ for bespoke tins is 10,000 units, we basically fill the whole container. This obviously presents us with additional ongoing costs as well as the additional work of ferrying boxes of tins to and fro. There is a lot more work and costs involved and this is at a time when small businesses like ours are facing rising costs from every direction.
Cost
Because we have to buy our tins in such huge quantities and because costs have risen dramatically in the past three years, the cost of our packaging has increased considerably. When we need to order a new set of tins the outlay is in the 10s of thousands which is a serious consideration for any small business. At the same time as the cost of packaging has increased, the cost of green coffee has nearly doubled. When we have to choose between the quality of our coffee and the cost of our packaging there is absolutelty no question. For us it is far more important to concentrate on buying the best coffee we can and paying fairly for it, even if that means reducing the cost of the packaging we put it in.
Customer feedback
Although we have had lots of positive comments about our tins, we have also received less positive feedback too. People have complained about too many tins accumulating at home and obviously those who live outside of North Berwick cannot easily refill them. Although some buy coffee in kilo bags, most folk buy their coffee in 250g units and these are not available without a tin apart from subscriptions. Due to customer requests we started offering our variety pack in recyclable plastic pouches (like what we use for subscriptions) last year and these have proved to be a popular choice.
Although our tins are fully recyclable with metals in the kerbside recycling our feedback from customers is that they feel too sturdy and nice to recycle after just one use and they feel really guilty recycling them. Lots of people do upcycle them into all sorts of things from pencil pots to plant pots to candles and storage for other things but the fact remains that a segment of our customers have asked us for a different packaging option.
Re-introducing the coffee bag
As a temporary measure, now that our tins are running out, we have decided to change our 250g retail coffee packaging to a plastic pouch. Over the next 12 months we will be doing further research into what packaging options are available on the market and are aiming to relaunch a new packaging in 2027. This may or may not be the bag, it depends on what we find that suits our needs the best and balances out sustainability, practicality and cost.
The decision to use a plastic pouch has not been taken lightly as we really do try to minimise our use of plastic as much as possible. We do however already use a fully recyclable plastic pouch for our subscriptions and also for our 1kg coffee size. We regularly have customers asking to buy our coffee in bags rather than tins. So when we decided we had to rethink our tins for the reasons outlined above we decided to re-explore the idea of a coffee bag.
Although we love the way a coffee box looks, we moved away from boxes in 2021 as they basically involve a doubling up of packaging as they still need a pouch inside to keep the coffee fresh and it just felt like an uncessesary use of resources to have two sets of packaging (a bag and a box) around 250g of coffee beans.
So, we have found a coffee bag that we think is our best option at the present time and I'd like to explain why:
Fully recyclable
It was really important to us that our packaging has to be easily recycled. This means it needs to be made out of only one type of plastic rather than a mix of materials. We have chosen a bag that meets this need and can be easily recycled (like all of our other bags) in the soft plastics at any supermarket. Packaging made out of mixed materials is increadibly hard to recycle effectively. Our bags are #4 (LDPE—Low Density Polyethylene) which can be recycled with carrier bags. These are widely collected at supermarkets and may even be collected by your local council.
30% post consumer recycled
This particular bag has a further improvement - it is also made out of 30% post consumer recycled plastic. This is important because if plastic recycling is to actually work there needs to be a market for the recycled material. By using recycled plastic it gives a market value to this material and further encourages a cyclical system. The bags are also certified carbon neutral.
Re-sealable & keeps your coffee fresh!
Our new coffee bags have a wee zip seal at the top to help you keep your coffee fresh once opened. At the end of the day, keeping those precious beans fresh and protected is of utmost importance. After all of the care and work put into growing them; processing them; shipping them halfway around the world; roasting them and shipping them to you it is crucial that our packaging is going to work hard to keep that coffee fresh and in tip top condition.
Refills will continue
Be assured that we continue to offer and encourage refills! Refilling is the best, most environmentally friendly option you can choose. We still have all of our small lots available as refills in our shop with a £1 discount. We will also have some square branded tins available that can be purchased empty if you need one to start your refilling journey. We have many many customers who have brought their tins back to us every week for years and years and when I think of all of the packaging that they have saved in that time I applaud them. More and more people are changing to refilling as their default and we will do everything we can to encourage this.
We are currently trialling a refillable 5kg coffee bag with some of our wholesale customers and should this option prove workable we hope that we will be able to roll it out to any wholesale customers who prefer reusable packaging. We do still offer our coffee in reusable tubs to local trade customers too.
In conclusion
I stand first in line to say that we need less plastic in the world. I firmly believe need to get away from single use packaging and move to closed loop system where we are no longer continuing to extract new resources and throw them into landfill so this packaging change has involved a lot of soul searching. We are continuing to work hard at reducing waste in all aspects of our business including all of our efforts at reducing single use coffee cups.
I hope that better and better packaging options will become avaialble in future and we will keep looking at them and keep assessing whether we need to change what we are doing and how we can improve.
But for now, balancing the considerations of cost, consumer feedback and practicality we are launching our latest iteration of packaging. We hope you like it - please do give us your feedback and be assured that we will listen.