Marsden-based Dark Woods Coffee teamed up with an expert packaging company to win a prestigious World Coffee Innovation Award.
Dark Woods collaborated with fellow Yorkshire firm Parkside for its remarkable compostable coffee pouch.
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 saw it collect compostable waste from its customers for use in its onsite composting facilities. The resulting compost was used to fertilise gardens at its roastery.
Damian Blackburn, director at Dark Woods, said: “This is a testament to the vision of our brilliant team, and the experts at Parkside who bought into our vision completely.
“We’re committed to sourcing and roasting the best coffee in the world but we’re also proud of our efforts to positively impact our community and environment.
“Our circular packaging strategy is central to those efforts, and we want to thank Parkside for making our vision into reality.”
Paul McKeown, group sales director at Parkside, said: “We always take a collaborative approach to any packaging project, and the success of our partnership with Dark Woods shows why.
“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.”
