Plastic vs compostable coffee capsules seems like a no-brainer. Historically, coffee pods have been made out of plastic - it's convenient but wasteful. But consumers want to move away from plastic as much as possible. They want to be able to throw away coffee capsules without worrying about the impact on the planet.  

It’s a big problem, with a quarter of UK households owning a coffee machine and 43% of them using it on a daily basis. Around 800 million coffee capsules are used in the UK each year (Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee). That’s a conservative figure - estimates range between 700 million and 2.5 billion. And that figure is growing year on year. 

Coffee pods are essentially single use plastic. And like most plastics they take a long time to break down in landfill - as much as 500 years.   

In 2015, the EU introduced the Circular Economy Action Plan, which aimed to transition the EU from a linear economy to a circular one. One of the targets was to make all plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2030. That is only five years away now and there are still a huge number of plastic coffee pods available to purchase in UK stores. 

Those brands that offer a recycling scheme for their pods are seeing a low number of returns. RePodder estimated that less than 30% of Nespresso capsules are recycled, despite the company’s Podback scheme. Other brands have moved to aluminium capsules but these also take centuries to break down in landfill and the recycling option is not always taken up. Plus aluminium coffee capsules need to be cleaned before they can be recycled. 

Cristina Talens, our founder says "We developed Source Climate Change Coffee’s home compostable capsules because single-use coffee pods are a huge environmental problem. With about 14 billion Nespresso capsules sold every year and only 7% recycled, most end up in landfill. That didn’t sit right with us as an ethical coffee business.”

There is some greenwashing in the coffee industry with brands claiming pods are ‘compostable’ even though they require specialist recycling, which isn’t always available and this has led to legislation around the term ‘compostable’ requiring a clear definition between ‘compostable’ and ‘home compostable’ to aid consumer understanding. 

Initially Source Climate Change Coffee developed a range of coffee pods that were made of cornstarch. But these, like many ‘compostable’ coffee capsules, still needed industrial recycling facilities. They couldn’t be recycled at home.  

So we developed our own Zero Impact Capsules that are 100% home compostable. They are plant-based and it took over two years of testing materials before finding the right one. One of the issues was finding a plant-based material that could be hermetically sealed to keep the coffee fresh - essential for our coffee loving customers. The Zero Impact Capsule does this and it breaks down naturally in compost within twelve weeks.

The plastic vs compostable coffee capsules debate is an important issue for us. We needed a product that was compatible with our sustainable ethos and so we worked on finding a solution. There are solutions out there if you look for them. We’re proud of the fact that we launched the home compostable coffee pods in 2021 beating the deadline by almost a decade. And we can sell our coffee capsules and still sleep at night.