BREAKING IT DOWN: HOW TO DISPOSE OF OUR COFFEE BAGS
Best practices for disposing of your empty Deeper Roots Coffee Bags
You finished the coffee. Now what do you do with the bag?
We've put a lot of thought into our packaging — not just how it keeps your beans fresh, but what happens to it after. Our 12oz and 2lb bags are made with Biotrē™ 2.0 material, which means the majority of what's in your hands right now came from plants, not petroleum. Here's how to handle it responsibly when it's empty.
First, a quick overview of what you're working with.
The outer layer of the bag is made from compostable, renewable wood pulp which is about 60% of the bag by weight. It breaks down naturally in a home compost environment in a matter of months, and once it does, it can actually enrich the soil it ends up in. The inner layer is a plant-based polyethylene (PE), which makes up the remaining 40%. Made from sugar cane, this durable film does not break down quickly, but it uses a sustainable source instead of fossil fuels like typical plastics.
How to COMPOST our 12oz & 2lb bags:
remove the tin tie.
Tear it off the top of the bag. If you're crafty, repurpose it at home. Otherwise, check your area for applicable donation or collection programs
remove the degassing valve.
That little circle on the back of your bag isn't for smelling the coffee (though we get it). It's a one-way valve that lets CO₂ escape from freshly roasted beans without letting air back in. The valve on our current bags isn't compostable, so grab a corner of it and tear it off before composting.
compost the outer layer.
Toss the outer shell into your home compost bin. In a few months, it'll break down on its own. Note: Biotrē™ 2.0 bags aren't designed for municipal or industrial composting — home compost is the move here.
dispose of the inner PE layer.
Once the outer layer has broken down, you can pull out the inner liner and put it in the trash.
HOW TO RECYCLE our 5lb bags:
Unlike our 12oz and 2lb coffee bags, the 5lb bags proved more difficult for our manufacturer to construct with plant based materials, of course we would love all of our packaging to be made from renewable plant based material, but to reliably hold 5lbs of coffee, we opted for the next best option and chose recyclable materials.
We are now accepting return of empty 5lb bags to our cafe locations across Cincinnati. Return any empty 5lb Deeper Roots bags to one of our cafes, we’ll recycle them through our partners at Cincinnati Recycling & Reuse Hub.
*It's important to note that these bags cannot be recycled in your standard at-home bin. They must be recycled through Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub. Bring them by any DRC location and we'll take care of the rest.*
We know this isn't a perfect system and we're not pretending it is. But it's the most sustainable option we've found that still actually protects the coffee while en route from our roasterie to your door. We're keeping a close eye on Biotrē™ 3.0, which would be fully compostable — valve, liner, and all. When that's ready and meets our quality standards, we'll make the switch.
Until then: tear, remove, compost, and repeat!