Scottish coffee company Manifesto Coffee has launched its new coffee beans in cans.

In a statement on social media, the company said:

“We no longer sell 1kg bags on the website, opting instead for a discounted 6 pack of cans. This means your coffee will remain fresher for longer and we can focus 100% on our cans.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“Your coffee will stay fresher for longer, being an airtight environment, the outgassing of the coffee is inhibited until opening. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“But this is just the start, we’re continuing development fo these to make them even better, with multiple avenues to preserve the coffee for a long time being explored actively. Once we’ve got results from the lab tests we’ll decide which method is best!”

Coffee packaging is problematic. Coffee bags are rarely recyclable, and when they are often aren’t easily recycled, needing to be dropped off to supermarkets or recycling centres by hand. Compostable packaging likewise tends to come with caveats, often needing industrial composting equipment to break down the polymers as domestic composters generally don’t reach the kind of temperatures needed to do so. Thus, most coffee packaging, regardless of recyclability or compostability still tends to wind up in landfill.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“We decided in August last year to use beverage cans for our coffee for several reasons, but one more than others – beverage cans are the most recycled object on the planet, with 82% of drink cans sold in the UK in 2020 being recycled and 75% of all aluminium ever produced still in use today,” added Manifesto Coffee.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“Essentially, this means we can package our coffee in an airtight, sealed, lightweight container that is ideal for coffee, and we can say it’s recyclable without any bullshit caveats. You don’t have to do anything special, you don’t have to take it anywhere special, all you need to do is chuck it out the same way you already do with your beer or soft drink cans.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀