In recent years, coffee culture has prevailed, and many young people like to go to coffee shops to have fun, have a cup of coffee, and relax. Many people even use a capsule coffee machine at home to make a cup of coffee. The manufacturer will seal the coffee powder in a capsule made of plastic and aluminum to keep the coffee powder in the freshest state. The user only needs to put it in the capsule coffee machine and press it to make a cup of espresso. The consumption of capsule coffee is staggering. According to an international survey report, in 2021, the total value of the capsule coffee market is 4.09 billion US dollars. In the United States, the annual sales volume of capsule coffee machines is as high as 20 million. But behind the convenience, capsules will always become disposable utensils and will inevitably become plastic garbage-what is the final fate of these capsules?

Pollution of capsule coffee

The biggest problem with capsule coffee is the packaging. It is reported that 6 grams of coffee requires 3 grams of packaging. The two materials of capsule mixed glue and aluminum are difficult to recycle. If the citizens dispose of them through ordinary means, the capsules may be contaminated by other garbage and become unrecyclable, and become landfill waste. Some manufacturers pointed out that 29,000 of the 39,000 capsules were discarded. And even if the capsule is made of pure aluminum, there is a risk of aluminum contamination. Furthermore, the European research institute The Oeko-Institut pointed out that during the entire life cycle of capsule coffee, it consumes the most energy than other types of coffee (such as French pressure pots, American coffee machines or fully automatic coffee machines) — every two thousand cups of coffee It produces approximately 81 to 87 kilograms of carbon emissions, which is 20 to 70 kilograms higher than others. It is worth mentioning that the environmental cost of capsule disposal accounted for 13%. It can be seen that proper disposal and recycling are very important.

Home DIY

In fact, ordinary citizens can also do simple DIY to give the capsule a second life. In foreign countries, some citizens will wash away the remaining coffee grounds and use the capsules as mini flower pots. After the seeds germinate, they will be transplanted into larger containers. Secondly, the used capsules are also a good helper for storage. We can upgrade them and rebuild them to form a 'checkered box' by sticking multiple capsules side by side, which can store small objects such as pills, jewelry, or thumbtacks. It can even become a mold for snack cups or Easter eggs. But remember that capsules are always unnecessary waste. We cannot upgrade and recreate the capsules used in our lifetime. Therefore, reducing waste at the source is the best policy.

Recycling a new way

In recent years, manufacturers have developed technologies to efficiently reuse packaging. For example, Nespresso changed to use pure aluminum to make 'coffee pods' and provided customers with multiple recycling points and ways. After recycling, the aluminum will be extracted and re-smelted, and re-invested in the production chain to become a new powder capsule or upgraded to other items such as bicycles, Swiss knives, peelers, etc.