Visit our Content Hub!
Access free downloadable content curated by our editors.

Breakthrough in Recyclable Coffee Packaging

Having successfully commercialized compostable single-serve coffee packaging, Club Coffee continues its sustainability journey with AromaPak® paper-based canisters featuring Boardio® technology for whole bean and ground coffee.

Shown here are three sizes of the innovative canister filled by Club Coffee under the President’s Choice brand.
Shown here are three sizes of the innovative canister filled by Club Coffee under the President’s Choice brand.

Club Coffee is one of Canada’s largest coffee roasters and packaging solutions providers to the ‘At Home’ segment, serving private label customers and retail brands from its facilities in Toronto, Canada. The firm was purchased in July of 2022 by ofi (olam food ingredients), a leading provider of naturally good food and beverage ingredients—and has burnished its sustainability offerings through its AromaPak® family of sustainable and innovative packaging solutions for whole bean and ground coffee.

The new packaging builds on Club Coffee’s success with the certified commercially compostable Purpod100® single-serve coffee pod. But while compostability makes sense for single-serve pods, research showed paper-based packaging to be the most consumer-acceptable solution for whole bean and ground coffee packaging.

A key step emerged when Club Coffee’s development team took part in a 2019 trade show. When they saw AR Packaging Group’s booth, they appreciated the potential of paper-based canisters formed from flat paperboard. AR Packaging, which had filed multiple patents for its Boardio technology,  was purchased by Graphic Packaging International in 2022.

“Our initial focus at Graphic Packaging was primarily on the European market, but Club Coffee’s interest supported us to adopt a global approach,” says Johan Werme, head of sales at Graphic Packaging. “With a new machinery platform in place and increased market interest in sustainable, paperboard packaging, the joint project with Club Coffee was a great opportunity. But it also came with some challenges. Ultimately, the expertise and commitment from the project teams at both Club Coffee and Graphic Packaging were instrumental in the successful launch of this new packaging format, for coffee.”

Innovating during a pandemic

That process became more challenging when COVID hit. Despite the inability to collaborate fully in person, Club Coffee bought and installed the equipment, commercialized the AromaPak® featuring Boardio® technology, and launched major brands in the new packaging in 500 days. Mark Navin, vice president sales at key equipment supplier Spee-Dee Packaging Machinery was amazed that “planning, design, engineering, project management, and even the Factory Acceptance Test were done virtually.” That speed to market enabled Canadian retailer Loblaw Companies Ltd. to announce the new format in April 2022, saying it was “overhauling the coffee aisle by replacing unrecyclable packaging with a first-of-its-kind-in-Canada paper-based solution.”

Delivering sustainability

Ensuring recyclability and sustainability impacts were key elements in the overall innovation strategy. With diverse standards in the North American marketplace, the Club Coffee team worked with How2Recycle to earn AromaPak™ a “widely recyclable” designation. This means the packaging material is acceptable in a minimum of 60% of curbside recycling programs in Canadian and American communities. That result speaks to the packaging’s use of high-quality tree fiber sourced from sustainably managed forests that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Videos from Morrison Container Handling Solutions