Germany 
Waste prevention and recycling
Good. Better. Sustainably packaged.
For us, sustainable and efficient business practices are inextricably linked. It is in our economic and ecological interest to manage our use of materials and energy efficiently and to avoid emissions. By doing business responsibly, we reduce waste, promote recycling and make a contribution to climate protection. A little bit more each day.
Doing more for the circular economy
Our packaging strategy: Reduce. Recycle. Reinnovate.
Coffee and tea are delicate natural products and need packaging. For us, quality always comes first in our search for suitable packaging materials. After all, a packaging’s function is to protect flavours and aromas while guaranteeing hygiene and the shelf life of all Dallmayr coffees and teas. So how do you create high-quality, visually appealing packaging that is also sustainable?
Our approach: as much as necessary, as little as possible – and whatever is left over is recycled and made part of the circular economy.
strategy
Reduce We save on product and outer packaging wherever possible – provided that quality and stability are guaranteed. Here, we focus on efficient packaging sizes and reducing the thickness of materials.
Recycle Our objective is to gradually switch from the flexible foil materials for our coffee and tea packaging to a recyclable composite packaging material. We are also optimising our packaging in terms of material and design to achieve high levels of recyclability. And we are heading in the right direction!
Reinnovate We are always developing our materials further to make them even more sustainable, and are actively searching for innovative suppliers for this purpose.
Measures taken so far and our next steps
Recyclable coffee packaging
We are one of the first large roasting houses in Germany to switch to recyclable plastic materials for our coffee packaging. Our forward-looking packaging solution consists of just one single type of plastic material – a mono PE film that is easy to recycle.
more than 90% recyclable*
Test rating: good!
It’s an achievement that’s encouraging us to go even further – we are gradually switching our coffee packaging to a recyclable solution, true to the motto: if we need to use plastic, then it should be recyclable!
We are starting off with Via Verde – a certified coffee range designed for professional use, i.e. for HORECA and Vending.
* This level of recyclability applies to:
Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands
How should you dispose of this packaging?
You can put the empty packs in the yellow sack, the yellow bin or the corresponding recycling bins. Outside Germany, please refer to the local guidelines.
What happens after recycling?
After proper disposal, plastic granules can be recovered from the packaging and used as a base material for new non-food packaging or plastic parts. This places the material back into circulation, which reduces the need for new plastic and helps to lower CO₂ emissions.
Recyclable
coffee capsules
Our classic Dallmayr capsa aluminium capsules are licensed with “Der Grüne Punkt” (the Green Dot). In Germany, our customers can dispose of their used capsules in the yellow sack, the yellow bin or the corresponding recycling bins. This way, the aluminium is returned to the recyclable materials cycle.
The material for our Gran Verde coffee capsules, which up to now have been industrially compostable, is also being switched to aluminium. What makes this even more special is the use of 80% recycled aluminium.
Certified materials for coffee and tea
Since 2018, we have been using materials from certified forests for our wood-based cardboard packaging, trays, displays and shipping boxes for coffee and tea. For more transparency, we also print the certification label and code on the respective Dallmayr cardboard packaging.
This can then be recycled and reused up to 25 times – for example to produce new packaging. The majority of our shipping boxes already contain recycled or natural, unbleached material.
“Green” packaging for tea
To improve the environmental footprint of our tea business, we have switched to more environmentally friendly packaging for our tea range.
- The teabag envelopes for our pyramid teabags and tea champs are made of recyclable plastic, while those for our traditional teabags are made of paper. No teabag envelopes are required for our tea pockets.
- The paper used in all folding boxes and cardboard packaging is certified (FSC or FSC Mix), which means it comes from responsible sources.
- Only green electricity is used during the packing process.
Every cup counts.
Our environmentally friendly solutions for coffee to go
Disposable paper cups are certainly practical for drinking coffee on the move, but they are bad news for the environment. Even recycling these paper cups rarely compensates for the amount of resources used to make them – and all for a product that is used only for a short amount of time. An inner coating of plastic – required to prevent liquid soaking through the cup – makes the recycling process more difficult.
Our approach: Optimise disposable cups. Push ahead with reusable solutions.
We are working on optimising the materials used in our cups and stepping up our efforts to implement reusable solutions. Together with our suppliers, we are looking for alternatives that are as easy as possible to recycle and where fossil-fuel-based raw materials are no longer used in production.
Responsible solutions on the go
Optimise disposable cups
Less plastic. Made from renewable raw materials.
We are using less and less plastic in our disposable cups. Currently, our cups for the food-service sector have a paper content of at least 95% (for sizes 0.2 l to 0.4 l). The plastic in the remaining 5% comes entirely from renewable, plant-based raw materials.
In Vending, too, we are using more and more alternative disposable cups made from 100% renewable raw materials.
These cups in Vending and HORECA are made from 100% renewable raw materials with bio PE:
Inner coating with bio-based plastic made from sugar cane
Paper materials from FSC and PEFC-certified forests
Switch from plastic to paper
We are pushing for our business partners to switch from purely disposable plastic cups to paper cups, and we make proposals for sustainable solutions. Sales of our disposable plastic cups was discontinued in 2024.
A new disposable cup without plastic coating
We want to reduce the amount of plastic in our paper cups even further. The aim is to create a paper cup without any coating.
Push ahead with reusable solutions
Use your own cup!
Many Dallmayr vending machines (table-top machines) already operate without a cup dispenser unit. That means they prepare beverages in your own office mug or a reusable cup. Most vending machines that do have a dispenser unit also have a button that stops a cup being dispensed – or a sensor that detects if a cup has already been placed on the machine. This means that reusable solutions can be quickly implemented here, too.
More ideas for reusable products
In addition to these machine-based solutions, we’re also working with customers to develop innovative multiple-use systems – for example at the University of Bayreuth. The university has special reverse vending machines for reusable cups, where students automatically receive their deposit back via a barcode.
The cleaning cycle for the cups was jointly developed and is managed by the student services organisation. What began years ago with sustainable coffee on campus has now become a flagship project.
Compatible with vending machines: our new and reusable “Dallmayr Easy Cup”
Example of a regional project in Germany: reusable cup concept at the University of Bayreuth
They take
and enjoy their drink.
The cup can be returned to the reverse vending machine or refilled.
The cups are taken to be cleaned.
The cups collected from the vending machines are cleaned at external facilities.
The vending machines are refilled.
The consumer comes to the vending machine with or without a cup and selects a product.
They pay a deposit for the cup.