The UK has seen an explosion of coffee shops on high streets, in shopping centres and at service stations in recent years, alongside the rapid growth of big brand coffee chains such as Starbucks, Costa Coffee and Cafe Nero.
Brits have come to demand a higher quality of coffee in general as a result, with more and more homes turning to coffee machines at home, such as pod machines from brands like Nespresso.
Coffee pods like those used with Nespresso machines can be recycled through dedicated collection points in store, or for other brands in TerraCycle collection points across the country. Recycling reduces the number of capsules going to landfill.
Research suggests that almost forty thousand capsules are manufactured every minute, and the majority of those make their journey through a coffee machine and then head for destination landfill. Estimates put that number at twenty nine thousand capsules a minute, a whopping three quarters of those manufactured destined to ultimately end up in the ground.
The problem with coffee capsules is that they need to withstand both pressure and heat in order to do their job. To make your cup of coffee, hot water needs to be forced through the grounds in order to make the brewing process work well.
As a result of this need for a sturdy, heat resistant pod, recycling is tricky. You’ve got a difficult combination of plastic and aluminium, and in a quantity that individually is relatively small so the resulting recycled material doesn’t hold a great deal of value, other than the environmental boost of not ending up in a pile of buried rubbish.
Of course, avoiding landfill is valuable, few people would argue, but it doesn’t add to the bottom line of recycling firms.
Nespresso Recycling Programme
Nespresso have made an effort to overcome this problem by introducing a recycling scheme for their pods, or capsules as they call them.
The general idea is you fill one of their bags with empty capsules as you use them up, and once its full (150 standard capsules or 65 of their Virtuo range) you send it off for recycling.
Getting the capsules recycled is achieved through one of four routes:
- Drop off points
Use one of 6500 locations across the UK carrying the CollectPlus service and they’ll be taken for recycling via Yodel couriers. - Collect From Home
If you get your coffee capsules delivered by Nespresso, they’ll collect a bag of used pods within three days of your delivery from your doorstep. It does mean leaving them out on the front doorstep though, so be careful if you have inquisitive animals in the area. - Return To Store
Nespresso have stores called ’boutiques’ across the country, usually in shopping centres and high street locations. - Local Collections
Finally, some areas have kerbside recycling services that can accommodate coffee pods. It’s still very patchy coverage, but if you’re lucky enough to have it, it’s a really simple way to dispose of the coffee pods.
How To Get A Nespresso Recycling Bag
If you’ve not already got a bag, and already have a growing pile of empty Nespresso capsules, it can be tricky to get started with recycling them. There are two ways to get your hands on a recycling bag from Nespresso:
- Pick Up A Nespresso Recycling Bag In Store
I keep saying in store because the word boutique just feels wrong, but the Nespresso Boutique (shop!) is your best bet for getting one quickly. - Add A Recycling Bag To Your Next Online Order
If you’ll be placing an order for more capsules soon, you can add a recycling bag for free to your delivery. Of course, that’s not a lot of help if you already have a plentiful stock of capsules at home.
How To Recycle All Brands Of Coffee Pods
If you’ve got another brand of coffee machine such as Tassimo or L’Or, you may not have access to a specially designed recycling scheme to try to save the planet from your coffee habit.
If that’s the case, check out TerraCycle, who offer recycling drop off points for a wide range of items that are otherwise harder to recycle than the usual residential recycling bins accommodate.
Generally, you’ll find directions on the outer packaging when you buy a pack of coffee pods, giving clues about the best way to recycle them. Some will simply suggest that they’re not recyclable, especially the cheaper, less well known brands. It’s often a similar story with the ‘compatible’ pods you find for sale on the internet.
Are There Environmentally Better Options Than Pods For Home Coffee?
Coffee drinking in itself is arguably bad for the environment, but there are some ways to make coffee that create a lot more waste than others.
A solution that is very popular now, probably as a result of the rise of the major coffee chains are bean to cup espresso machines. While they tend to be more expensive to buy than the pod coffee makers, buying coffee beans works out cheaper per cup, so over the life of the machine you’re likely to spend less overall.
What’s more, while the coffee beans tend to be supplied in foil bag which aren’t the best for recycling, that’s a lot less difficult and a lot less packaging than the equivalent number of pods.
Increasingly, more coffee bean brands are moving towards paper bag solutions to package their ranges too, meaning much easier recycling.
