Aluminium Coffee Pod

Is there a problem with coffee pod waste? Well, yes! Millions of coffee pods find their way to landfill each year according to a Good Magazine article from December 2020.

"The recycling of coffee capsules is a contentious issue. Of the 13,500 capsule coffees consumed every minute, only 21% of them are recycled worldwide. And approximately 114,155 capsules end up in landfill every minute. In New Zealand alone, it’s estimated that just 4% of coffee capsules end up in recycling.

These alarming statistics mean that to date across the globe, there is an estimated 60 billion plastic and aluminium coffee capsules in places like the landfill and the ocean where they will remain for up to 500 years."

The German city of Hamburg dealt with the coffee pod problem many years ago according to this BBC article.

This Consumer article says, "Our 2018 survey of 94 capsule coffee drinkers found 58% recycled their capsules. However, 30% didn’t know they could recycle capsules." Scroll down the article for reviews on refillable capsules.

The environment ultimately pays the price for our convenience.

See also aluminium can, coffee capsule/pod

There are plenty of great coffee machines available which do not require aluminium pods. No pods = less natural resources used and less waste.

Reusable/refillable coffee pods are available: search online.

Artworks, jewellery, sculptures, garden art can reuse coffee pods and keep them out of landfill. There are plenty of ideas online.

Check if your coffee pods can be recycled through the Terracycle programme here.

Clean your used pods and recycle at Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre.

Aluminium loses no quality during recycling and can be recycled endlessly.

If pure aluminium these can be recycled. If pods are plastic-lined, they cannot be recycled.