Love using your single-serve pod coffee maker but feel guilty about the waste? Here’s how to recycle your Nespresso pods
For many of us, creating great-tasting coffee at home is one of life’s little pleasures. Nespresso machines feature heavily in our round-up of the best coffee makers, which is no surprise as these easy-to-use espresso machines are compact, sleek, and use single-serve capsules to ensure you can create the perfect cup of Java every time. However, while these single-serve capsules, which Nespresso calls pods, require minimum effort to make great-tasting coffee, they are contributing to an increase in waste. The number of single-serve coffee pods from manufacturers such as Nespresso, Keurig, and Tassimo that are thrown away is staggering. Halo, which produces compostable coffee capsules, estimates some 56 billion single-serve pods end up in landfill each year. What you may not know is that many of these single-serve capsules, including Nespresso pods can actually be recycled, and there’s a number of ways you can ensure your coffee isn’t contributing to landfill. We’ve rounded up everything you need to know when it comes to recycling Nespresso and other coffee pods. Nespresso pods are made from aluminum with a food-grade shellac coating and filled with ground coffee, and depending upon the coffee blend chosen, added flavorings as well. They come in two sizes; original, which offers traditionally sized espresso servings, and Vertuo – a coffee capsule capable of producing larger drinks as well. We spoke to Nespresso and it revealed 80% recycled aluminum is currently used in all of its Master Origins and Lungo coffee pod ranges. However by the end of 2021, Nespresso said it will ensure all of its Original capsules will use 80% recycled aluminum, and by early 2022 it plans to expand this to include all Vertuo capsules.
