Packaging company Parkside has earned a World Coffee Innovation Award for its compostable coffee pouch developed in collaboration with United Kingdom-based specialty roaster Dark Woods Coffee.
The pouch, which took home the prize in the Packaging Innovation category, is entirely compostable, made from a home-compostable flexible laminate and an industrially compostable CO₂ valve.
The pack is central to Dark Woods’ innovative closed-loop waste management system, which involved the collection of compostable waste from its customers for use in its on-site composting facilities. The resulting compost was used to fertilise gardens at its roastery near Marsden, West Yorkshire.
Paul McKeown, Group Sales Director at Parkside, says the team at Dark Woods had a clear vision of a zero-waste closed loop for their packaging and all they were missing was that final piece of the puzzle: the packaging itself.
“The finished pack uses our Park2Nature material, which keeps the coffee beans fresh and the aromas locked inside. Meanwhile, the compostable valve lets fugitive CO₂ emissions from the roasted beans out, without letting air in. It was a real pleasure to work closely with the team at Dark Woods to solve that puzzle with our packaging solution, which combines great performance and functionality with sustainability,” he says.
“This awards success is poignant given much of the work that went into this creative partnership was driven by the late Paul Lenihan, our Sales Account Manager who sadly passed away earlier this year. Paul elevated everyone and everything he worked on, and this pack is no exception – and this wouldn’t have been possible without him.”
In addition to the World Coffee Innovation Award, Parkside was nominated for five other awards in recent weeks including three Packaging News Awards, a Flexotech Award, and a Stationers’ Innovation Award.
Meanwhile at the Great Taste Awards 2024, Dark Woods won 22 awards plus a Golden Fork prize for Better Business.
Damian Blackburn, Director at Dark Woods, says the company is committed to sourcing and roasting the best coffee in the world, as well as positively impacting the community and environment.
“Our circular packaging strategy is central to those efforts and we want to thank Parkside for making our vision into reality,” he says.
For more information, visit parksideflex.com.
