Aluminium-free pods for the future of coffee pods

To make a cup of coffee in the morning, for the past few decades, all you have to do is insert coffee pods into your coffee machine and let it do the rest. Behind their practicality, however, these pods, which are often made of aluminium, are the source of growing pollution on our planet. Should we therefore do without coffee pods? The answer is no. The best thing to do is to only turn to aluminium-free pods. Before we get into that, let's take a brief look at what the aluminium pod is all about.

What is the aluminium pod?

Before, to consume coffee, it was necessary to buy seeds in stores before roasting them yourself. This is no longer necessary since the advent of aluminium-free pods. This is a solution that was adopted a few years ago for the marketing of coffee. It consists of offering the coffee in a packaging called pod or pod that is adapted to a coffee machine.

What are the aluminium pods made of?

Aluminum pods contain enough coffee grounds to make a single cup of caffeinated or decaffeinated beverage. Pods are, more precisely, small plastic containers with an aluminium lid. Once the coffee has been dispensed, these containers can normally no longer be used and must therefore be disposed of.

Used pods are most often found in landfills, but it is not uncommon to see them at the bottom of rivers, lakes and oceans as well. Wildlife is thus endangered when these containers are broken into small pieces. Fortunately, this stage can be avoided by engaging in the recycling program of their manufacturers, a detail that we will discuss in the next section of this article.

How did they appear?

We are accustomed to placing the date of appearance of the aluminium pods at that of the original Nespresso coffee machine, i.e. in the 1990s. However, it should not be forgotten that the first patent for them was filed in the early 1970s. This patent is, of course, none other than Nespresso. But contrary to what many people think, other companies did not wait until the 2000s to follow in its footsteps. Indeed, the patent for Illycaffè pods dates from 1972 and that of Lavazza from 1989. Senseo, on the other hand, was not patented until 2001.

Nespresso held a virtual monopoly on aluminium pods until the second half of the 2000s and the emergence of increasingly fierce competitors for its products. These included pods for Tassimo, Senseo pods and Dolce Gusto pods. The competitive situation on the market has led to a sharp reduction in prices so that currently no less than 40% of Europeans have their own coffee machine and regularly buy the pods that go with it.

Can aluminum caps be recycled?

So that you can see that the use of aluminium-free podsis more than a necessity, we will give you some more figures. Worldwide, no less than 9 billion Nespresso pods are sold annually. This represents 40,000 tons of aluminium waste annually, or 4 Eiffel Towers.

Moreover, of the 39,000 aluminium pods we throw away, only 30% are recycled. However, most pod manufacturers are reluctant to do without this material because of its great contribution to flavour preservation. They therefore choose to encourage consumers of their products to engage in their recycling programme. This is good enough, but not enough to stop the pollution caused by aluminium and plastic waste.

An expensive operation

Pods are small containers. This makes it more difficult to isolate them in sorting centres that are not equipped with eddy current machines. However, the latter can only be found in about twenty French centres. This explains the relatively low percentage of aluminium pods that are recycled in France.

It is also important to clean the pods as they are also plastic and, of course, coffee. These elements will have to be degraded without reaching the aluminium, hence the need for pyrolysis. However, this technology is not available in France, and the centres cannot handle it because of its high cost. Transporting the pods to Germany before they are melted down in other European countries is therefore inevitable.

A lot of energy costs are involved

Aluminium ingots have to be processed into foil in Germany. The Netherlands is also a must because of its recognised expertise in pod cleaning. The removal of the lacquer and the melting of the ingot pods can only be done in Italy. Switzerland, for its part, will be the country of the new conversion of aluminium pods. The aluminium pods will have to make numerous trips for recycling, which represents a significant energy expenditure. Such expenditure can, however, be avoided with aluminium-free pods.

The unavoidable aluminium-free pods: what are they?

Faced with the various problems associated with the use of aluminium pods, many companies have embarked on the invention of aluminium-free pods. These promise, in particular, ease of management once used. They exist in various variants, but the most promising are compostable or biodegradable pods.

For their design, their manufacturing companies have favoured materials related to eco-design. This is notably the case with corn, sugar cane and biodegradable plastic polymer. Among these companies, two have taken a more important step in this field: San Marco and Terramoca. Let's zoom in on them and their bio pods.

San Marco

San Marco is a forerunner in compostable aluminium-free pods. It is therefore not surprising to know that it already has 6 references of products that meet the eco-design standards. After use, its pods can be put in a compost bin or in a rubbish bin with household waste. A few months are enough for a total decomposition.

Terramoka

Terramoka is a French pride in itsinitiative for the preservation of the planet. Aware that everyone can have a decisive role to play in the fight against the dumping of plastic waste, the company has opted for packaging made of corn starch, which is fully biodegradable for its pods. And the icing on the cake is that the pods contain coffees from organic farming and local producers.

Even if it does not yet have all the necessary equipment for aluminium recycling, France can count on one of its own for the reduction of its aluminium waste. This is Terramoka, a manufacturer of aluminium-free pods made in France. Although they are still more expensive than traditional pods, it is worth buying them because of their benefits for the planet.