Wasteful Single Serve Coffee Capsules Feel The Heat In Germany
Posted in Coffee Business on February 25, 2016
Tags: capsules, environment, germany, usa
Single serve capsules are insanely convenient for offices and other environments where a decent tasting coffee needs to be prepared in seconds without the assistance of a skilled barista.
On the face of it, many people believe that they are tidy and clean too. Unfortunately that's not the case.
Upworthy reports that due to the environmental damage caused by the single serve capsules, which often account for a third of the weight of the product, which are difficult to recycle, a city in Germany plans to ban them from all government buildings and is encouraging citizens to follow suit.
When you consider that a relatively small city like Hamburg is reported to generate over two hundred thousand waste capsules a day, it's shocking to learn, as reported by Eater, that the number of households with single-serve coffee capsule machine has risen from 15% to 25% in recent years.
The only good news, especially noting the worrying recent pressure on the coffee supply and possible world shortage recently reported here on the Coffee Inquisitor, is that people are wasting less coffee as the capsules tend to encourage consumers to only produce the exact amount they intend to drink instead of a full pot.
Consumers looking to make an environmentally friendly batch of coffee, that won't spoil in the way regular hot coffee does may want to check out our upcoming guide to cold press coffee. Not only does it not require any heat to produce, but a batch can keep for about two weeks in the fridge, and is easy to turn into your favourite hot coffee by adding steamed milk or hot water, or simply dilute and add ice/milk and your favourite syrup for a delicious iced coffee.
Image: Andrés Nieto Porras [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons