The ecological case for sustainable coffee capsules!

We have naturally more blogs on coffee pods, coffee and compostable coffee capsules under Compostable Coffee Pods. Other meaningful articles on sustainable coffee capsules are for instance from leading media publishers, or Moving Beans or other sources. Or go through a pertinent blog on compostable coffee pods.

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 dispose of the waste. There is an upside however, as plastic capsules turn out to be a more sustainable way of drinking espresso than almost any other approach of making coffee. According to research, recyclable aluminium pods are more ecologically friendly however the lack of recycling centers in the UK and the greater energy requirement to produce the aluminium pods implies plastic capsules are better.

In the UK, almost one third of households own an espresso pod device. Green advocates, have actually been important of the quick adoption of the coffee capsule, criticising the deluge of waste streaming from the pod-powered coffee machine.

It looks bad for the environment, however that's not the whole story. To understand the ecological impact of feeding our coffee practice, it's crucial to life-cycle evaluation research studies for the full range of coffee-making techniques. 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, evaluating the effect on ecosystems, environment modification, and water.

His group found that instant coffee comes out best, however that capsules are the runner up in the environmental impact stakes. "Capsules tend to require 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."

Aside from the ecological effect of growing beans in the first location, the second most significant hit is the energy it takes to brew coffee. The coffee machines just flash-heat the quantity of water required for one part, unlike, for example, boiling a kettle.

Video: Sustainable and Compostable Coffee Pods by Moving Beans.

Normal users of a drip filter device utilize it extremely ineffective typically leaving it switched on, if more coffee is made than essential. Because instance drip-filter coffee significantly worse than capsules!

Research study by KTH in Stockholm, meanwhile, found that filter coffee has the worst environmental impact, due to the fact that cup for cup, filter coffee uses more beans to prepare a single cup-- about 7 grams, compared to 5.7 grams for capsule coffee. Add that up to billions of cups of coffee drunk worldwide each year and it rapidly creates big increase of the quantity of coffee beans that need to be grown, harvested, processed and carried, plus all the energy required to heat up the water when making the cup.

Despite the many studies showing 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. People are simply concentrating on how capsules are eliminating the planet, thus the factor for a lot of work is entering into making capsules more sustainable-- because there is a sales opportunity in making them more sustainable, as people believe they are bad-- and not since it is in fact an unsustainable way of drinking coffee.

A research study by Quantis compared the electrical power consumption throughout developing, heating and losing coffee for single-serve and drip coffee preparation. It discovered that single-serve coffee utilizes a specific serving of fresh coffee, which cuts coffee waste, while individuals making drip coffee typically have remaining that they throw away. And espresso makers that rest on a gas hob or a warmer use significantly more energy than a capsule maker does.

It is agreed that if aluminium capsules are fully and extensively recyclable, they would certainly be much better for the environment than plastic ones (even if plastic ones are also extensively recycled). Having stated that, the most current Quantis research recommends that producing plastic pods uses less energy than making aluminium ones, so unless the latter are more commonly recycled, then plastic capsules may come out much better after all.

If you toss a compostable capsule into your green bin it will end up at the community incineration plant, there is no benefit to it being compostable. Making the compostable capsule pollutes as much or even more than producing a plastic one.

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

Naturally, capsules being much better than a lot of other coffee-making methods does not take away the basic reality that any product that generates waste poses an environmental problem.

Ideally you have seen that it is more complicated and frightening than you believed. Every action and choice you make has repercussions, both environmental and otherwise. It's just a question of which lesser caffeinated evil you select.

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.