Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/520302
38 STiR tea & coffee industry international / Issue 3, 2015 (June/July) First Certified Compostable Pods Toronto-based Club Coffee has placed a $50 million bet that its PurPod100 single-serve capsules will be the first capsules to be certified 100% biodegradable. The renewable PurPod100 is made of bio-plastics with a Keurig- compatible ring that is manufactured from coffee chaff—the skin of the coffee bean shed during the roasting process. The capsules, designed to brew coffee, cocoa, cider and tea, are undergoing the final stage of certification by the Biodegradable Products Institute, an independent non-profit certifier whose assessment of compostability is widely ac- cepted by municipalities and waste processors. BPI subjects products to test conditions identical to landfills and recycling programs. Results are verified by NSF International prior to certification. "Every single part of the PurPod100 is designed to be digestible by bacteria," said Club Coffee c.e.o. John Pigott who worked with the University of Guelph to develop the capsules. "As a large manufac- turer and distributor of packaged coffee, we have a responsibility to our customers, and to society, to reduce the environmental impact of our activities," he said. Club, a leading provider of private label coffee, has invested $50 million in construction of a fill and packaging facility that attracted a commitment from Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA to package its Hills Bros. Coffee, Chock Full o'Nuts, and Kauai Coffee brands in PurPod 100 capsules. Boyd's Coffee and Paramount Coffee as well as Copper Moon will use the pods for coffee and chai beginning in Q4 of this year. "Many organic residuals and food scraps, such as coffee grounds, continue to be disposed of in landfills, rather than being diverted to com- mercial compost manufacturing facilities where they can serve as part of a valuable feedstock," according to US Composting Council director of market development Al Rattie "The creation of a certified, fully compostable coffee pod would be welcomed by those commercial compost manufacturing facilities that are permitted to accept such residuals," adds Rattie. "Science shows that composting is an effective and conscientious solution to this growing environmental problem. Recycling isn't a conve- nient or well-developed solution because hot pods full of coffee grounds must be carefully separated and cleaned before collection. And biodeg- radation is too slow of a process, taking centuries to break down the billions of pods in landfills," said Pigott. Learn more at: www.clubcoffee.ca/compostable. -- Dan Bolton stale but not as quickly as coffee. This makes the lower cost open mesh ring appealing but flavored teas will not retain their appeal unless the mesh is individually sealed in a small pouch. The machinery to fill and pack tea is expensive. That is why blenders turn to manufacturers such as Chicago-based LBP that make billions of empty UpShot capsules that are sold by the pallet for about 15 cents each, depending on quantity ordered. Brands using UpShot include Saxbys, Melitta, and Mystic Monk. Co-packers spend millions on equipment to fill hundreds of capsules a minute, adding 5 cents to the cost. Capsules are then nested in standard boxes to save space. Cartons hold 12, 18, or 24 K-Cups. Total cost: 30 to 55 cents per capsule including tea. Capsules sell for 65 to 95 cents, around $9 for a box of 12. Blending for capsules Blenders recommend 500-pound lots, enough for 28,350 (8- gram) iced tea capsules or 56,700 (4-gram) capsules used for hot tea. Inclusions must be fine with uniform density. "Keurig's brew cycle is 30-45 seconds which requires adjust- ments in cut, throw weight and even packing such as vacuum conveying instead of augers that can damage fragile leaves," ex- plains Jeff McIntosh, R&D at Intelligent Blends, a San Diego co-packer that fills 300 million capsules a year. One of the most important tasks is determining which filter to insert into the cup. "Filters have a range of specialized properties. Choosing the correct material delivers the best infusion, aroma, color and fla- vor. We test many filter papers for particle retention properties to get the right dissolvable solids in the cup," he said. "The result is cups as close as possible to the bag teas people have used for years," said McIntosh. QTrade Teas & Herbs president Manjiv Jayakumar in Cerri- tos, Calif. agrees. "It is now possible to replicate existing product offerings and deliver an excellent cup," he said. QTrade is North America's largest supplier of organic and Fair Trade certified tea. Twenty years ago capsule filling equipment cost millions. It was designed to produce tens of thousands of capsules per shift. Third party facilities managed product lifecycles and tim- ing, constraining brands on product delivery to retail channels. Smaller local brands were financially unable to enter the market. Today blenders and brands have the option of investing in equipment or partnering with regional co-packers gaining great- er control over their product, delivery schedules and distribution channels. Production runs are getting shorter as a competitive advantage with minimums as low as 15,000 capsules. "Single-serve pods represent the only category where sales have grown in supermarkets, drugstores, and other non-restau- rant outlets," according to Ric Rhinehart, president of the Spe- cialty Coffee Association of America. "Whole-bean, ground, and jarred instant coffee sales are all flat or falling," he said. "Just as coffee has seen whole bean and ground coffee sales thwarted by single-cups, so, too, may the tea market see declines in bagged/loose tea—on top of existing declines in instant," writes market research firm in its Tea and Ready-to-Drink Tea in the U.S.: Retail & Foodservice report. "While single-cup margins are a marketer's dream, this as- sumes that the particular marketer has a foot in the single-cup space—or the dream may become a nightmare," according to Packaged Facts.