Green Deal on coffee pads and tea bags wins Global Recycling Heroes award

The Green Deal between the industry association Koffie & Thee Nederland, the Dutch government and the Dutch Waste Management Association (DWMA) was named winner of the Recycling Heroes 2023 award at the Global Recycling Day on Saturday 18 March. The separate collection of coffee pads and tea bags in food and garden waste in the Netherlands will generate about 88 million kilograms of additional compost each year.

Dutch Waste Management Association

Press release, ’s-Hertogenbosch, 20 March 2023

The Green Deal on coffee pads and tea bags is an initiative by the industry association Koffie & Thee Nederland, along with companies in the coffee and tea sector, the Dutch government and the DWMA, for the separate collection and treatment of coffee pads and tea bags – along with coffee filters – in the food and garden waste stream. Dutch coffee and tea producers have worked hard to make tea bags and coffee pads compostable. Currently, 93% of tea bags and almost 97% of coffee pads are compostable and can therefore be disposed of with food and garden waste. The aim is that eventually all companies operating in the Netherlands will switch to compostable coffee pads and tea bags. Coffee capsules are excluded from the Green Deal and must be disposed of with residual household waste because they are not biodegradable, or only partly biodegradable, in composting plants. The members of Koffie & Thee Nederland are working on a plan to separate all aluminium and plastic coffee capsules in the Netherlands from the household waste streams and recycle them.