The ecological case for eco-friendly coffee capsules!

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We often hear that single shot coffee pods are not good for the environment, because of the energy to grow the beans, make the capsules, brew the coffee, and deal with the waste. There is an upside nevertheless, as plastic capsules end up being a more sustainable way of drinking espresso than nearly any other approach of making coffee. According to research study, recyclable aluminium pods are more environmentally friendly nevertheless the absence of recycling centers in the UK and the greater energy requirement to produce the aluminium pods implies plastic capsules are better.

In the UK, nearly one third of families own an espresso pod maker. Green advocates, have been critical of the quick adoption of the coffee capsule, criticising the deluge of waste streaming from the pod-powered coffee makers.

It looks bad for the environment, however that's not the whole story. To comprehend the ecological effect of feeding our coffee routine, it's important to life-cycle evaluation studies for the complete series of coffee-making approaches. Alf Hill, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Bath, took a look at all the stages of coffee production, from growing the beans to disposal of waste, examining the effect on ecosystems, environment change, and water.

His group discovered that instantaneous coffee comes out best, but that capsules are the runner up in the environmental effect stakes. "Capsules tend to need less coffee input to make a single beverage and so their general effect can be lower even though we see more waste when we throw them away."

Hill's research study supports other research studies carried out throughout the past couple of years, which recommend that capsules are ecologically less harmful than alternative coffee-brewing methods. Aside from the environmental effect of growing beans in the first place, the 2nd most significant hit is the energy it takes to brew coffee. That's why barista-made espresso fares so badly in regards to its environmental footprint: a lot of energy is needed to brew just a small single espresso cup. Capsules, on the other hand, are more efficient. The coffee devices just flash-heat the amount of water required for one portion, unlike, for example, boiling a kettle.

Video: Sustainable and Compostable Coffee Pods by Moving Beans.

Common users of a drip filter device utilize it very ineffective typically leaving it switched on, if more coffee is made than needed. In that circumstances drip-filter coffee significantly even worse than capsules!

Research study by KTH in Stockholm, meanwhile, found that filter coffee has the worst environmental effect, because cup for cup, filter coffee utilizes more beans to prepare a single cup-- about seven grams, compared to 5.7 grams for capsule coffee. Add that approximately billions of cups of coffee drunk around the world each year and it quickly produces huge increase of the amount of coffee beans that need to be grown, collected, processed and transferred, plus all the energy needed to heat up the water when making the cup.

In spite of the many research studies revealing that drip coffee and espressos are actually worse for the environment than capsules, it is the lowly plastic coffee pod that gets the bum rap. Individuals are simply concentrating on how capsules are killing the planet, thus the factor for a lot of work is going into making capsules more sustainable-- because there is a sales chance in making them more sustainable, as people think they are bad-- and not because it is really an unsustainable method of drinking coffee.

A research study by Quantis compared the electrical power usage throughout developing, heating and losing coffee for single-serve and drip coffee preparation. It found that single-serve coffee uses an exact serving of fresh coffee, which cuts coffee waste, while individuals making drip coffee often have remaining that they throw away. And espresso makers that rest on a gas hob or a hot plate usage substantially more energy than a capsule device does.

It is agreed that if aluminium capsules are totally and widely recyclable, they would indeed be much better for the environment than plastic ones (even if plastic ones are likewise widely recycled). Having said that, the most current Quantis research suggests that producing plastic pods uses less energy than making aluminium ones, so unless the latter are more extensively recycled, then plastic capsules might come out much better.

What about the so called compostable capsules? The obstacle here is they are rarely disposed of properly. There is no benefit to it being compostable if you throw a compostable capsule into your green bin it will end up at the community incineration plant. Making the compostable capsule contaminates as much or even more than producing a plastic one. If it does end up in a landfill, it will break down-- producing methane that will wind up in the environment, producing more greenhouse gas.

If compostable capsules are not tossed away in the routine bin collection cycle but put into unique bins that are taken to compost or, even much better, to biomethanisation centers, then they are much better than aluminium or plastic ones (even if both of these are commonly recycled), the issue is, currently it's rarely the case.

Obviously, capsules being better than a lot of other coffee-making approaches doesn't remove the basic truth that any product that creates waste poses an environmental issue.

Hopefully you have seen that it is more complicated and frightening than you thought. Every action and option you make has consequences, both ecological and otherwise. It's just a question of which lesser caffeinated evil you choose.

Moving Beans is an SME that has provided compostable coffee pods for a long time, with more insights at this link or on Compostable Coffee Pods. Or browse an interesting blog on compostable coffee pods. Moving Beans was the first to deliver natural Nespresso coffee capsules.