Can Coffee Capsules Go One Step Further To Be Carbon
In a world where convenience has dire consequences on the environment, there have been some welcomed advancements to reduce the carbon footprint associated with aluminium Nespresso® & compatible coffee capsules. But why settle for "carbon neutral" when carbon negative could be easily achieved?
Lavazza® have recently started promoting their advancement in creating an aluminium coffee capsule that has been measured to be carbon neutral. While Nespresso® announce on their website that they have reached the target of carbon netural, as targeted to be achieved in 2022 (though it is not yet certified by the Carbon Trust).
Sounds great right? Digging a little deeper into their info and statistics, it's clear there is one area that these companies fall short on – the carbon footprint associated with the capsule's end-of-life. That is, what happens to the capsule after you've enjoyed your elixir of life (aka. beautifully brewed cup of coffee).
In a closer review of the fine print, Lavazza have not included the disposal of the capsule at end-of-life in their LCA (Life Cycle Assessment)(1). While Nespresso indicate their end-of-life, which does include the recycling program, accounts for only 4% of their carbon neutrality2.
The current status of recycling coffee capsules
Are you stockpiling your used pods for months and packaging them in a thick plastic bag for transporting back for recycling?
Unless you've just been teleported from 1862, you know plastics are very bad for our environment. When many people and industries are trying to reduce the use of plastics to lower the impact to the environment, it simply doesn't make ecological sense to continue the production of more thick plastic bags for the purpose of recycling other products. Add to this the emissions from transporting the coffee capsules to a limited number of processing plants with the capability to separate the coffee grounds from the aluminium.
The carbon footprint associated with collect & return methods:
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Thick plastic bag needed for travel
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Long transport to single destination
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Separated in energy intensive process
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Emissions from producing plastic bags(3)
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Emissions from transporting(4,5)
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Emissions from separating process(6)
The impact of sending coffee capsules to landfill
Maybe you doing the unthinkable... tossing them in your waste, banished to landfill to create methane and contribute to greenhouse gases... *GASP*
Aluminium is a very valuable resource that is infinitely recyclable without degradation. Recycling aluminium uses only 5% of the required to create new aluminium. It is very counter-productive to bury it after it's already been extracted from the earth with such a high emission cost. This makes it sensible to divert it into the circular economy to create a new aluminium product at a lower cost to the environment – 95% lower to be exact.
The carbon footprint associated with tossing your coffee capsules into the trash:
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Produces methane in landfill(7,8)
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Valuable aluminium resource is buried
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Takes up to 500yrs to breakdown
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Methane is 25x more potent that CO2
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Methane is 2nd biggest contributor to GHG
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New Aluminium has huge CO2 emissions
The secret to a carbon negative coffee capsule
We already have some great advancements by Nespresso and Lavazza with carbon neutrality in the coffee capsules life cycle. So why not take it a step further?
Achieving carbon negative is as simple as: rethink – remove – reduce – recycle.
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Rethink – consider an alternate option to recycling those aluminium coffee capsules that doesn't use plastic bags or excessively long transporting = saving on emissions.
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Remove – processing at home to remove the coffee grounds ensures the capsules are clean, eliminating the need for processing at an energy-intensive processing plant.
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Reduce – the empty & clean capsule can be crushed & folded for inserting into an aluminim soda can (ensuring they are captured and filtered correctly at material recycling facilities).
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Recycle – drop the can (full of clean & crushed capsules) into your kerbside recycling bin, in the same method you do with the rest of your household recyclable items.
Pair Nespresso® and Lavazza® with rePodder™ to achieve a carbon negative coffee capsule
By eliminating all those emissions currently associated with recycling your coffee capsule (via collect & return) or tossing them in the bin, you have sufficiently reduced the carbon footprint beyond the carbon neutrality already provided by the coffee capsule producer. This doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand you are now in the carbon negative territory! Congratulations!!
The solution is in the palm of your hand – with rePodder.
