Grind has been rebuked by the ASA over “misleading” claims made in an advert for its coffee pods, following a complaint by Nestlé UK.
The advert, which appeared on Grind’s website on 3 October 2025 under the header “our pods vs their pods” claimed Grind’s at-home compostable pods cost “£13.95 per month”, whereas Nespresso Original and Vertuo pods cost £19.50 and £23.50 per month respectively “for 50 non-compostable aluminium coffee pods, billions of which end up in landfill yearly”.
Nestlé UK complained to the watchdog, arguing the ad was misleading as it compared the price of 30 of Grind’s pods with the price of 50 Nespresso Original and Vertuo pods. It also omitted that Nespresso pods could be recycled, and misrepresented the extent to which they ended up in landfill, it said.
Assessing the evidence, the ASA said Vertuo pods were not “directly comparable with Grind pods” as they could not be used in the same coffee machines.
It noted the ad compared prices “per month” but did not make the basis of the comparison between brands clear. The fact the ad compared the price of 30 Grind pods with 50 Nespresso Original and Vertuo pods was stated in “a less prominent position in smaller font,” than the topline price comparison, it said. And when compared on a per pod basis, the Nespresso pods were cheaper than Grind’s (39p vs 47p), it pointed out.
The comparison was therefore “presented in a way which misleadingly implied that Grind pods offered better value than Nespresso pods, when that was not the case”, it said.
End-of-life claims
Assessing the end-of-life claims made by Grind, the ASA said the advert “gave the impression that landfill was the only end-of-life destination” for Nespresso products.
However, since Nespresso pods could be recycled using Royal Mail’s home collection or drop-off services, or dropped off at any Nespresso boutique or Podback recycling service point, this was therefore misleading, it said.
Finally, the ASA also noted Grind’s evidence to substantiate the claim that “billions” of Nespresso’s pods “ended up in landfill yearly” was based on an estimate of the brand’s global sales. This figure could not be substantiated and was therefore also misleading, it ruled.
Banning the ad from appearing again in its current form, the watchdog said: “We told Grind to ensure that their future price comparisons were not misleading by failing to make the basis of the price comparison clear. Price comparisons should only be made for directly comparable coffee pods, based on like-for-like quantities or contain an appropriate unit price comparator.
“We also told them to ensure they held documentary evidence to prove claims that were capable of objective substantiation, and to not misrepresent their competitor product’s end-of-life arrangements.”
Nestlé UK response
Nespresso was “proud to offer a variety of options to make recycling coffee pods as simple and convenient as possible”, a spokeswoman for the brand said.
“We are pleased that the ASA has ruled that Grind’s claims about Nespresso are misleading and that these claims cannot be used in future,” the spokeswoman added.
Grind chief of staff Teddy Robinson said the brand accepted the ASA ruling but was disappointed the watchdog considered its claim that “billions” of Nespresso pods ended up in landfill to be misleading.
“Our intention was to highlight the scale of the environmental challenge posed by aluminium coffee pods,” Robinson said. “Admittedly, we don’t know the exact number of aluminium pods that go to landfill. We do know Nespresso reported £6bn in sales last year, the approximate price of a coffee pod and that Nespresso reports only 35% of their pods are recycled.
“We have reached out to Carol Vorderman to help us run the numbers.”
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