How and Where To Recycle Coffee Pods

Brits roughly consume 98 million cups of coffee per day, with single use coffee pods one option. But what is the impact of these single use pods, and are they worse than using a kettle? 

What Are Coffee Pods?

Coffee capsules, produced by popular brands such as Tassimo and Nespresso in the UK and keurig in America, offer instant coffee in a disk. Typically, disks are filled with enough coffee grounds for a single cup of a caffeinated (or decaffeinated) coffee. However, hot chocolate and tea are becoming widely available. Pods generally consist of small plastic containers sealed with an aluminium foil lid. Once the coffee has been dispensed, the containers are no longer of use and are disposed of in the rubbish.

So, Are All Coffee Pods Bad?

In January 2023, the BBC reported on new research from the University of Quebec in Canada; which suggested that pods may not be as wasteful as preparing coffee using a traditional coffee maker. The Guardian also reported on the same study (10th February 2023); citing that people left to measure their coffee use 20% more coffee and twice as much water as is actually needed to brew a cup of filtered coffee. The article explains that producing 11g of Arabica coffee in Brazil – the amount that can be saved by using a coffee pod – emits about 59g of CO2 equivalent. However, only 27g of CO2 equivalent is emitted by creating and disposing of those same pods.

The Conversation said consumers who use the recommended amount of coffee and water, soluble coffee appears to be the most environmentally friendly option. This is due to the low amount of soluble coffee used per cup, the kettle’s lower electricity consumption compared to a coffee maker, and the absence of organic waste to be treated.

However, for consumers who use 20 per cent surplus of coffee and heat twice the water needed, coffee capsules seem to be the best option. Why? Because the capsules allow you to optimise the amount of coffee and water per consumption.

Can Coffee Pods Be Recycled in the UK?

With the rise of coffee pods, local recycling has not kept up, with Recycle Now (A British recycling support website) saying they are not usually accepted in your recycling collections from home; however, some recycling schemes exist for these items.

Podback a nationwide, not-for-profit coffee pod recycling service, is available in the UK. Created by the biggest names in coffee pod systems, Nespresso, NESCAFE Dolce Gusto and Tassimo, they claim to allow people to enjoy the quality and taste of coffee pods in simple and easy ways to recycle them. Podbags can be ordered online or through some retailers such as Ocado for 1p. Podback offers two different bags, white bags for aluminium pods, green bags for plastic pods. This allows the two materials to be collected separately as they are sent to different recycling facilities.

Bags can be left outside for collection, if the local council accepts the scheme, or can be sent to one of hundreds of drop off points, such as a newsagent.

To boost recycling rates, Nespresso now offers a recycling scheme in partnership with Royal Mail where people can return their used coffee capsules for recycling, free of charge, through Royal Mail.

In the middle of August, North Yorkshire Council announced their partnership with Podback, a coffee pod recycling service, to provide the containers at its household waste recycling centres (HWRCs).

Can Coffee Pods Be Recycled in America?

Despite living in the UK, I found out through the community that Keurig is one (probably of many) leading brands. On their official website, the company states that 'since the end of 2020, 100% of Keurig® K-Cup® pods have been recyclable.' The K-Cups are made from recyclable polypropylene, which they explain is used in various common household products like butter tubs and yogurt containers. Despite Keurig saying that polypropylene is widely accepted in kerbside recycling, not all recycling facilities that accept polypropylene necessarily accept K-Cup® pods. Keurig recommends visiting BeRecycled for more information.

Sadly, I am sure you were waiting for the (but) aka the bad news. Keurig says that one you have finished brewing your favourite K-Cup® pod, just peel and discard the lid using the tab, then compost or discard the grounds, and recycle the empty cup. However, Lloyd Alter from Treehugger cites other newspapers saying that the disassembly of the product is messy and takes multiple steps. To recycle pods, the foil needs to be separated, alongside the coffee grounds and a paper filter before rising down the container to remove any leftover coffee grounds. Delish cites a paywalled Bloomberg article saying 'research indicates that only about 3% of plastic #5 actually ends up being recycled.' Furthermore, if a K-Cup is contaminated with coffee as it reaches the sorting machine, it'll likely end up in the rubbish.

Final Thoughts

So what do you think? Some researchers argue that coffee and other types of pods are one way to moderate the amount of coffee, tea or hot chocolate we should be using. Others, however, we should boil less water and measure the amount of coffee grounds we use better.