Moving Beans came about when a coffee enthusiast met a scientist to provide the unrivalled naturally degradable Nespresso-compatible coffee pods which preserve the flavour of the coffee. The capsules are hundred percent eco-friendly and can be securely thrown away with organic waste.

We have clearly more blogs on coffee, coffee pods and compostable coffee pods under Coffee Pods Review. Other interesting posts on sustainable coffee pods are e.g. from leading media publishers, or Moving Beans or other sources. Also, digest our Compostable Coffee Pods and Sustainability Article.

We are typically being asked what bioplastics are, or what is the significance of an item being naturally degradable or compostable? Is there any relationship between bioplastics and biodegradability? How should we consumers handle these items? In this blog, we try to break down these principles through easy explanations that will hopefully help you much better understand their meaning and be more aware of the options you are taking as a consumer. Let's go step by step:

BIOPLASTICS.

These are products that are either originated from biomass (e.g. plants, such as corn or sugarcane) or are naturally degradable; or indeed feature both properties. They vary from conventional plastics because the latter are made from fossil oil (petrol).

The benefits of using renewable materials to produce bioplastics are: boost in resource performance (e.g. use of biomass for various functions), reduction of the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions (those that greatly contribute to climate modification); and saving fossil resources by slowly replacing them.

BIODEGRADABLE.

Biodegradation is a process - a chemical procedure - during which microbes that are offered in the environment convert materials into natural compounds such as water, co2, and garden compost (artificial additives are not needed).

The procedure of biodegradation depends upon the surrounding environmental conditions (e.g. location or temperature), on the products included and on the process itself. This procedure can take short amount of times (weeks and months) or long periods of time (10s and even hundreds of years). In other words, plastic items made from biomass (a type of bioplastic) are not necessarily naturally degradable. On the other hand, some petrol-based plastics might be biodegradable. The household of bioplastics can be divided into 3 main groups:

• bio-based (or partially bio-based) however non-biodegradable plastics (e.g. PE, PP, PET, PTT or TPC-ET);.

• plastics that are both bio-based and eco-friendly (e.g. PLA, PHA or PBS);.

• petrol-based plastics that are naturally degradable (e.g. PBAT).

COMPOSTABLE.

Composting is likewise a procedure-- a chemical process.

It is the process of biodegradation under aerobic conditions (presence of totally free oxygen) within a time frame of 6-12 weeks. There are two methods to perform this procedure: industrially or home-compost. Industrially compostable conditions are really specific and they have been defined under the European standard EN 13432 for product packaging items and adopted by the British Standard Institution under BS EN 13432 requirement. Only those packaging products that meet the strict criteria of the EN 13432 standard are approved with the accreditation of OK-Compost Industrial and can be unambiguously considered industrially compostable.

In practice, this indicates that you can dispose this product, including compostable coffee pods, in your natural waste bin for it to be sent to the closest industrial composting center. Home-compostable packaging rather is not covered under one single widely-known requirement but rather within several country-based ones. This is since the conditions in a home-compost are not that manageable as in the case of an industrial compost.

Under home-composting condition temperatures and humidity can differ significantly from location to place, and year on year, not constantly accomplishing the best decomposition in a reasonable timeframe.

Nowadays, nevertheless, society and specialists in the field see the need for moving into this direction if we want to end up being more sustainable. That is why we might see extremely intriguing developments and innovations in this home-composability area in the following years.

One of the entreprise I really like is Moving Beans who have been providing compostable coffee pods for several years, with more info under https://www.movingbeans.com. They were one of the first to provide truly natural Nespresso coffee capsules.