Transforming the sustainability of our products and packaging
Of all the topics we get asked about when it comes to sustainability, our use of plastic definitely comes top.
While we know that plastic has many benefits, (such as protecting products against damage and providing a barrier to keep food fresh and prevent food waste) – the ‘plastic pollution’ that damages our environment is another matter.
Each year, over 300 million tonnes of plastic is produced and around half of that is single-use –plastic which we’ll only use once before it’s thrown away.
A big chunk of this – more than eight million tonnes in fact – enters the world’s oceans each year causing damage to wildlife and food systems. In the last few years, we’ve put a lot of work into evaluating where we use plastic and why. Minimising our use of single-use plastics is hugely important to us.
The big picture
We’ve been trying to think of our plastic use within a bigger overall goal – to entirely transform the sustainability of our products and our packaging so that overall they will have a net positive environmental impact.
This means looking at every aspect of our products and packaging and working out how it can give back more to the environment than it takes out.
Our tea and coffee have a whole host of environmental impacts – from the carbon emissions related to manufacturing and transporting the products, to the impact on the land where the crops are grown. In fact, over 80% of our product carbon footprint (from field to shelf) is tied up in the tea and coffee itself. We’re working hard to address this impact – building a carbon neutral supply chain and supporting sustainable and climate-smart farming techniques.
The carbon footprint that’s tied up in our tea and coffee means that it’s even more important that our packaging preserves the product inside, and that we stop tea and coffee being wasted as much as possible.
But when it comes to the packaging, we’re trying to rethink the way we design, use and reuse it. We want Sustainable Design to be at the heart of our innovation and product development processes.
But when it comes to the packaging, we’re trying to rethink the way we design, use and reuse it. We want Sustainable Design to be at the heart of our innovation and product development processes.
Taylors Sustainable Design Principles
To help achieve this, we came up with our ‘Sustainable Product Design Principles’.
These Principles are a set of requirements which give guidance to our R&D and Innovation teams on how to design packaging which is sustainable and which meets our commitments, both internal and external.
Our ideal is for our packaging to never become waste or pollution. Our ambition is for all of our packaging to be circular in design – both inputs and outputs. This means that we want the resources involved in our packaging to be used again and again in a closed-loop or ‘circular’ rather than linear system.
So how does this work in practice?
100% circular in: 100% of our packaging will be made from circular inputs – these make use of materials already in circulation or those which can be replenished.
This includes materials made from recycled content or renewable resources.
There are many areas where we’re working hard to make this happen. For example we use a significant amount of recycled content in all our cardboard packaging and metal tins but are looking at how we can increase that.
We’re also switching the oil-based plastic in our tea bags to a renewable plant-based plastic called PLA. But while we’re taking out the oil-based plastic we still need to think about the environmental impact of the material we use in its place. So, we’re making sure we don’t use plant-based plastics which come from sources that displace food production or cause deforestation.
100% circular out: After it’s been used, we want all our packaging to be reused, recycled or composted.
The first preference here would be to have our packaging reused. Reusable (and refillable) packaging is specifically designed with robust materials so that it can be used time and time again.
Recycling and composting
For packaging that can’t be reused, we need to make sure it can be recycled or composted – a goal that’s much more complex than it sounds.
Take our coffee packaging for example – historically, plastic has played a key role in our packs. This is because we’ve found it to be the most effective and versatile material for keeping our coffee fresh. This is not only important to give our customers a high-quality brew but also to allow for a longer supermarket shelf-life, so that as little coffee as possible ends up unsold as food waste.
Although we’ve looked out for new packaging over the years, we’ve struggled to find a recyclable material that does the same job as effectively. Our journey so far has focused on reducing the weight of our packaging, and the film is the thinnest we can specify while ensuring the quality of product. This also helped us to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of our coffee packaging.
Now, to meet our new ambitions, we’ve undergone a global technology search – looking at all the possible alternatives – from paper-based materials to recyclable plastic laminates. For paper-based solutions, we’re working with suppliers to enhance the barrier properties of packaging to prevent staling. When it comes to laminates, we’re looking at ‘mono-polymer’ solutions which can be recycled.
While we are busy working on how to make this packaging recyclable, the current waste infrastructure also has some way to go to support these changes. Right now there are very few local councils who collect a small selections of flexible plastics from households and only 6% of flexible plastic is currently recycled. We’re proud to be part of the Flexible Packaging Consortium, run by Suez, which is working with Defra to include flexible plastics in household recycling collections from 2023.
We’ve also teamed up with Terracycle so you can save your Taylors of Harrogate flexible coffee packaging – the plastic pouches and sachets our coffee products come in — and send it off to them for safe, specialist recycling. If you want to find out more about how you can join the Taylors of Harrogate Recycling Programme, swing by their website for a full how-to.
Making informed choices
Part of the process of switching materials will be to understand the carbon footprint of the changes we make and we’ll carry out lifecycle assessments as needed.
All our tea and coffee products are now CarbonNeutral® certified. This means that while we’re reducing the carbon footprint of our production as much as we can, we’re balancing our remaining footprint through projects which benefit people in our supply chain and in tea and coffee growing communities. We want to make sure the packaging options we choose are also in line with our continued work to mitigate our footprint.
The right information
However – none of these ambitions and switches will have the intended impact unless our tea and coffee drinkers have the information they need to dispose of our packaging in the right way.
That’s why we share as much info as we can on how to dispose of each piece of your packaging on our Impact Site, and why we want our on-pack and website messaging to be as clear and helpful as possible.
For each part of our packaging you can check out our ‘how to recycle’ page which will tell you the best place to dispose of it. We’ll keep you up to date with our progress, and what this means for your recycling options, at every stage.