The environmental case for compostable coffee pods!

We are pleased that you landed on our site. There are naturally more blogs on compostable Nespresso pods, coffee and coffee capsules. Other meaningful websites on plastic-free coffee pods are e.g. from leading media publishers, or Moving Beans. Do check out our lead article on Nespresso pods.

We frequently hear that single shot coffee capsules 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 however, as plastic capsules turn out to be a more sustainable way of drinking espresso than nearly any other technique of making coffee. According to research, recyclable aluminium pods are more ecologically friendly nevertheless the lack of recycling centers in the UK and the greater energy need to produce the aluminium pods means plastic capsules are much better.

In the UK, almost one third of families own an espresso pod machine. Green campaigners, have been vital of the fast adoption of the coffee capsule, criticising the deluge of waste streaming from the pod-powered coffee makers.

It looks bad for the environment, but that's not the whole story. To comprehend the environmental impact of feeding our coffee practice, it's crucial to life-cycle evaluation studies for the complete series of coffee-making approaches. Alf Hill, teacher 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 communities, climate modification, and water.

His team found that immediate coffee comes out best, however that capsules are the runner up in the ecological impact stakes. Filter or drip coffee comes third, while conventional espresso has the worst ecological impact. "The effect, such as greenhouse gas emissions, water and fertiliser usage, mainly 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 although we see more waste when we toss them away."

Hill's research supports other research studies carried out throughout the past couple of years, which recommend that capsules are environmentally less harmful than alternative coffee-brewing approaches. Aside from the environmental impact of growing beans in the first place, the 2nd biggest hit is the energy it requires to brew coffee. That's why barista-made espresso fares so severely in regards to its ecological footprint: a lot of energy is required to brew simply a small single espresso cup. Capsules, on the other hand, are more efficient. The coffee makers just flash-heat the amount of water needed for one part, unlike, for instance, boiling a kettle.

Typical users of a drip filter maker use it very ineffective frequently leaving it switched on, if more coffee is made than needed. In that instance drip-filter coffee significantly even worse than capsules!

Research study by KTH in Stockholm, meanwhile, found that filter coffee has the worst environmental effect, 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 intoxicated around the world each year and it rapidly develops substantial boost of the amount of coffee beans that need to be grown, collected, processed and carried, plus all the energy required to heat the water when making the cup.

In spite of the many research 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 bad rap. People are just focussing on how capsules are eliminating the world, hence the reason for a great deal of work is going into making capsules more sustainable-- because there is a sales chance in making them more sustainable, as individuals think they are bad-- and not since it is really an unsustainable method of drinking coffee.

Video: Sustainable and Nespresso Pods by Moving Beans.

A research study by Quantis compared the electrical power intake throughout brewing, heating and squandering coffee for single-serve and drip coffee preparation. It found that single-serve coffee utilizes a specific serving of fresh coffee, which cuts coffee waste, while people making drip coffee frequently have remaining that they discard. And espresso makers that sit on a gas hob or a warmer use considerably more energy than a capsule device does.

It is concurred that if aluminium capsules are totally and extensively recyclable, they would undoubtedly 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 recommends that producing plastic pods utilizes less energy than making aluminium ones, so unless the latter are more extensively recycled, then plastic capsules may come out much better after all.

So what about the so called compostable capsules? The difficulty here is they are hardly ever gotten rid 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 local incineration plant. Producing the compostable capsule pollutes as much or even more than producing a plastic one. If it does end up in a land fill, it will degrade-- producing methane that will wind up in the environment, developing more greenhouse gas.

However, if compostable capsules are not thrown away in the regular bin collection cycle but took into special bins that are required 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 problem is, presently it's hardly ever the case.

Of course, capsules being much better than many other coffee-making techniques does not eliminate the basic truth that any product that creates waste positions an ecological issue.

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

Moving Beans is an SME that has been providing Nespresso capsules for endless years, with more insights at Moving Beans. Alternatively go through a pertinent article on compostable Nespresso pods. They were one of the first to provide truly natural coffee pods.