The environmental case for sustainable coffee pods!

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 frequently hear that single shot coffee capsules are bad 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 turn out to be a more sustainable way of drinking espresso than nearly any other method of making coffee. According to research study, recyclable aluminium pods are more environmentally friendly however the lack of recycling facilities in the UK and the higher energy need to produce the aluminium pods indicates plastic capsules are much better after all.

In the UK, nearly one third of families own an espresso pod device. Green advocates, have been vital of the rapid 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 environmental impact of feeding our coffee practice, it's crucial to life-cycle assessment studies for the full series of coffee-making methods. Alf Hill, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Bath, looked at all the stages of coffee production, from growing the beans to disposal of waste, evaluating the effect on communities, environment change, and water.

His group found that immediate coffee comes out best, however that capsules are the runner up in the environmental impact stakes. Filter or drip coffee comes third, while conventional espresso has the worst environmental impact. "The impact, such as greenhouse gas emissions, water and fertiliser use, mostly takes place where the coffee is grown," states Hill. "Capsules tend to need less coffee input to make a single beverage and so their total impact can be lower despite the fact that we see more waste when we throw them away."

Hill's research supports other studies carried out during the past few years, which recommend that capsules are environmentally less harmful than alternative coffee-brewing approaches. Aside from the ecological impact of growing beans in the first place, the second most significant hit is the energy it takes to brew coffee. That's why barista-made espresso fares so severely in terms of its ecological footprint: a great deal of energy is needed to brew simply a tiny single espresso cup. Capsules, on the other hand, are more efficient. The coffee makers just flash-heat the quantity of water needed for one part, unlike, for instance, boiling a kettle.

Video: Sustainable and Compostable Coffee Pods by Moving Beans.

Normal users of a drip filter machine utilize it really inefficient frequently leaving it switched on, if more coffee is made than required. In that instance drip-filter coffee considerably even worse than capsules!

Research by KTH in Stockholm, on the other hand, discovered that filter coffee has the worst ecological effect, since cup for cup, filter coffee uses more beans to prepare a single cup-- about 7 grams, compared to 5.7 grams for capsule coffee. Include that as much as billions of cups of coffee intoxicated all over the world each year and it rapidly creates substantial increase of the quantity of coffee beans that have to be grown, gathered, processed and transferred, plus all the energy needed to heat the water when making the cup.

Regardless of the many studies showing that drip coffee and espressos are really worse for the environment than capsules, it is the lowly plastic coffee pod that gets the bad rap. People are just focussing on how capsules are eliminating the planet, thus the factor for a great deal of work is going into making capsules more sustainable-- due to the fact that there is a sales chance in making them more sustainable, as people believe they are bad-- and not due to the fact that it is actually an unsustainable way of drinking coffee.

A research study by Quantis compared the electrical power consumption during brewing, heating and losing coffee for single-serve and drip coffee preparation. It discovered that single-serve coffee utilizes an exact serving of fresh coffee, which cuts coffee waste, while people making drip coffee frequently have remaining that they throw away. And espresso makers that rest on a gas hob or a hot plate usage considerably more energy than a capsule machine does.

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

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

However, if compostable capsules are not thrown away in the routine bin collection cycle but took into unique bins that are required to garden compost or, even better, to biomethanisation centers, then they are much better than aluminium or plastic ones (even if both of these are commonly recycled), the problem is, presently it's seldom the case.

Obviously, capsules being better than many other coffee-making approaches does not take away the basic fact that any product that generates waste positions an environmental issue.

Ideally you have seen that it is more complex and frightening than you believed. Every action and option you make has effects, both environmental and otherwise. It's simply a concern of which lower caffeinated evil you pick.

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.