Our planet is facing serious ecological challenges: It is heating up more and more, important resources are becoming scarce and numerous animal and plant species are disappearing every year. Ecosystems that have had a stabilizing effect for thousands of years are being actively destroyed and cannot regenerate quickly enough. At the same time, around 2 billion tons of waste are produced worldwide every year. Every year, millions of tons of plastic waste end up in our oceans alone. We need to rethink how we use our resources - from materials and production to product use. We should use our valuable materials for a long time, reuse them often and recycle them in order to significantly reduce the burden on nature. This applies not only to products, but also to their packaging. Recycling and reusing materials not only saves energy and other resources, but also reduces the high volume of waste. We use recycled materials to close the material loop and promote the demand for recycled materials in the supply chain.

Textile-to-textile (T2T) refers to the reuse of textiles or textile waste generated during production to manufacture new textile products instead of disposing of them. This is also the focus of a Non Food pilot project in 2024: As an alternative to conventional or recycled polyester from PET bottles, Tchibo used recycled polyester from textile waste for four products in the Active collection in calendar week 41/2024. Long-sleeved functional shirts and thermal functional pants, both in the ladies' and men's collection, came with a proportion of T2T recycled polyester. The recycled material was produced using an innovative chemical recycling process (“Green Circle” by Jiaren). “Green Circle” is a more environmentally friendly technology from our yarn manufacturer for these products. Here, polyester fibers are made from recycled textiles in order to conserve resources and reduce the environmental impact. Used textiles are thus turned into new textiles. The commercial use of recycled polyester from T2T for clothing is currently a market novelty. The proportion of textile products made from textile-to-textile (T2T) recycled polyester is to be further increased by 2027. Tchibo is also committed to scaling up this and other T2T recycling technologies.

The olive green Tchibo garden clogs, which went on sale in 2022, were designed for recycling thanks to their mono-material construction. The plastic and dyes have been tested for material health and recyclability in accordance with Cradle to Cradle Certified® Silver. After use, customers can return the clogs to the manufacturer free of charge within four years of purchase, where they can be continuously recycled into new products without any loss of quality.

Within the four years, none of the customers took advantage of the free take-back option and sent the product back for recycling. Possible reasons: Products did not reach the end of their life due to high physical durability or customer communication was not sufficiently visible.

Our aim is to continuously improve the recyclability of our packaging so that the materials can be reused. In the Non Food area, we are already consistently at over 98%. In the area of coffee packaging, our goal is to convert all coffee packaging under the Tchibo brand in the DACH region to recyclability by 2025 and in the rest of the business area by 2027.

To preserve the quality and aroma of the roasted coffee, current coffee packaging is made from a three-layer composite material. For Tchibo's recyclable coffee packaging, the plastic layers have been adapted with modern materials so that they can be recognized in the sorting process after disposal by the customer via the yellow garbage can. This means they can be assigned to the correct recycling stream and remain in the material cycle. Tchibo wants to be a pioneer for sustainable and economically viable packaging in the European coffee market and switch to optimized, recyclable composite materials in all sales areas by 2027 (Tchibo brand) and 2030 (rest).