Food Journal #4: How to recycle coffee capsules and pods

More and more people all around the world choose to prepare homemade coffee using an automatic pod or capsule machine. Especially young people between the ages of 18 and 24 are particularly sensitive to the charm of the machines.
This type of relatively recent coffee consumption has caused the increase of the waste amount. Do, what could be the solutions not to affect the environment too much. There are many ecological solutions, and a recent studies suggest that it is possible to recycle coffee capsules in the food sector.

Coffee waste: how much do they pollute?

The disposal of pods and capsules takes place in two different ways. For pods it is usually enough to throw the waste into the damp. However it is necessary to check the packaging information first.
While, for capsules, the question is a little bit more complex. In fact, they are generally made of Pe, Pet or Aluminium. These are materials difficult to recycle and dispose in an environmentally friendly way.

Recycle coffee capsules: how to reduce environmental impact and reuse waste

There are many different ways and projects that aim to achieve the goal strongly desired by the European legislator, some of which are funded by the EU. The common goal is to find an effective strategy to recycle coffee capsules, which today need dozens of years to be disposed of. The intent is to replace them with compostable alternatives, but in the meantime some projects aim to reuse coffee waste in a useful way.

Recycle the coffee capsules to obtain antioxidant substances

Some researchers of the University of Bolzano (Italy) had the intuition to reuse coffee powder, opening up very interesting perspectives.

After collecting 10kg of waste pods from the office coffee machines, the researchers transferred the contents into a laboratory plant that works with supercritical CO2, used, for example, to eliminate caffeine and produce the deca. Through this process it is possible to recycle used pods, to obtain antioxidants or lipids substances , ready to be reused in the food industry.

Moreover, the Bolzano team hypothesizes that these ecological oils extracted from the pods could even be used as substitutes for palm oil. But not only: the whole process can be defined as "green" because a natural element such as carbon dioxide is used as a solvent and the temperatures do not exceed 40° C. This temperature grants that the essential oil are preserved.

The solution of biodegradable capsules

Some coffee-producing industries have decided to focus on biodegradable capsules to cope with the problem of disposal. They use a particular plastic easier to be recycled. But there are still some doubts about the healthiness of these materials.

In fact, it is difficult to assure that the capsules are free of phthalates, substances used for the plastic modeling. These substances interfere with the organism hormonal secretion and can damage the liver and kidneys. So, the consequences, in terms of health, would be the same as traditional capsules. However, since this is an expanding field of research, creative and innovative solutions are not lacking. So, the suggestion is to read carefully the coffee labels we want to buy and, if necessary, contact the supplier directly.

Despite this, it is important to remember that biodegradable capsules can be thrown away in the damp such as paper pads. It is estimated that they take only a few months to be completely disposed. This is a really short time compared to the 1000 years required for normal plastics.

Creative reuse

Lastly, there are those who chose to focus on the circular economy. Some companies, in fact, offer the opportunity to return the used capsules to the sale shop. These are then recycled and disposed in dedicated establishments. In some cases, the companies take also care of removing the coffee waste from the casings to study the possible alternative uses.

There are also creative solutions: in fact, there are more and more associations, designers and enthusiasts who create objects, bijoux and bags from the capsules.

Did you like the post? Please upvote, comment and follow!