Our products come in packaging that protects them on their way to stores, supermarkets, or customers, and is printed with all the necessary product information. Customers must dispose of the packaging after unpacking; the production of the packaging requires large amounts of resources, and the waste pollutes the environment. Packaging in the coffee sector presents particularly significant challenges. Packaging that preserves the coffee's aroma is very demanding, as the coffee packaging must protect it from external influences such as oxygen, light, and moisture. Airtight coffee packaging is a top priority, because in addition to the aroma, the sensitive coffee oils are also sensitive to oxygen and develop rancid flavors without protective packaging. Due to the high quality standards, the coffee sector has so far primarily used plastic/aluminum composite films, which cannot be mechanically recycled and are therefore sorted out for thermal recycling (waste incineration).

We continuously optimize all our packaging and apply several levers:

We're reducing the amount of material we use: We use thinner film for the packaging of our "Feine Milde" and "Privat Kaffee" coffees, saving several tons of material annually. Of course, the familiar fresh aroma is still preserved.

We are improving the recyclability of our packaging: In the area of coffee packaging, our goal is to convert all coffee packaging under the Tchibo brand to recyclability by 2025 and in the rest of our business area by 2027.

Conventionally, many of today's roasted coffee packaging consists of three layers: a sturdy, printable carrier layer (often PET polyester) on the outside, followed by a barrier layer (often thin aluminum), and a plastic layer (often PE polyethylene) on the inside. However, such commercially available packaging is not recyclable. In 2023, we achieved a breakthrough in the field of coffee packaging: The solution we developed: For our recyclable packaging, the plastics were adapted so that they are recognized during the sorting process after disposal in the yellow bin. This way, they can be assigned to the correct recycling stream and remain in the material cycle. Instead of a non-recyclable composite film, some of our coffee range is now packaged in a recyclable film made of adapted plastics. The new film can be disposed of and recycled in the yellow bin and, depending on the range, saves 31 to 45% CO2 compared to the old film. The new, more sustainable packaging will initially be used for three coffee ranges: the Barista Espresso and Caffè Crema coffees, the pods, and the Espresso and Caffè Crema range, from mild to strong. Our recyclable packaging has been certified "good for recycling" by the cyclos-HTP Institute. For BARISTA coffees, we save 31% CO2e thanks to recyclability and improved material use. For Espresso & Caffè Crema, mild to strong, the CO2e reduction is even 39% compared to the previous packaging (according to ISO 14067; calculations by nova-Institut GmbH across the entire product cycle). This also allows us to omit the aroma seal. Further ranges will follow.

The Cafissimo and Qbo coffee capsules are already recyclable and can be disposed of in Germany via the Yellow Bag recycling system.

Our pods also come in 88% recyclable outer packaging. Why not 100%? This packaging also includes printing inks and adhesives, which cannot be recycled but are included in the calculation. Incidentally, the pods themselves are made of industrially compostable material (according to EN 13432). The materials used in our packaging can only be recycled if disposed of correctly, so we have included appropriate disposal instructions for plastics in the yellow bin (or for paper in the blue bin) on our recyclable packaging as part of our product communication.

We use materials from certified, responsible sources: We use new materials for our coffee capsules. In 2021, we launched our Qbo capsules, which are made from 70% renewable raw materials (according to the ISCC PLUS certified mass balance approach). The raw materials we use for our Qbo capsules are second-generation, meaning they are organic waste and byproducts from industry.

We promote reusable solutions: We offer reusable coffee packaging solutions in our Tchibo stores. Since 2019, our customers have been able to have their own coffee cans filled with coffee beans or ground coffee. We also serve coffee in reusable cups that customers bring with them. In 2022, we also introduced a deposit system for reusable cups in all German stores.