Coffee pods can now be recycled in Horsham district

Since May 2021, the council has collected 11.5 tonnes of electricals, 21 tonnes of textiles and 4.9 tonnes of batteries as part of a trial service run in partnership with West Sussex County Council.

During a meeting of the cabinet on Thursday (June 9), members voted to continue that service, while adding coffee pods – which are made of plastic and/or aluminium – to the collection list.

Toni Bradnum, cabinet member for recycling and waste, said: “We are always looking for innovative ways to recycle waste and avoid it going to landfill.

“We like to empower residents to make cleaner, greener decisions and we are sure that the introduction of this new coffee pod scheme will help build on our already excellent track record for recycling across the district.

“Introducing coffee pod collections through our existing kerbside recycling services will make it even easier for residents to participate at home whilst helping the council increase the amount it recycles.”

The council will be partnering with not-for-profit recycling organisation Podback to deliver the service.

Roger Noel, cabinet member for leisure & culture, said: “I’m absolutely amazed at the amount of recycling that we are continuing to collect.

“These tonnage figures are astounding and I think it’s so admirable that Horsham is continuing to explore every single way that we possibly can to make use of the recycled materials.”

Ruth Fletcher (Lib Dem, Denne) asked for the collection rates to be monitored and for the council to look at ways to improve them.

She said: “The level of uptake shows how much [of a] demand there is for this but there will be a significant number of households where the offer won’t be taken up.”

Mrs Bradnum said ‘a close eye’ would be kept on the uptake and announced that another publicity push was in the pipeline to make more residents aware of what could be recycled.

To find out more about Podback, log on to www.podback.org

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