Recycling Coffee Pods??

This topic has developed a bit of heat recently, as consumers beat up the place about how terrible it is not to recycle those pesky coffee pods that are now proliferating across many countries.

This appeared recently and is a reasonable summary of the US story.

http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/06/coffee-pods-waste-recycling/

But wait.........our house has several of the machines, and it has never been an issue.  Yes, we use aluminium ones from a major supplier.  But they get recycled as per normal, even with the grounds in them.  They do not weigh much and recyclers do not worry.  Why you ask?

used coffee pods

Aluminium is heated to melt as part of recycling..................so guess what?  The coffee pod item is crushed, some coffee spills out, some does not, and the aluminium mass is then heated ......the organic residual that is the coffee grounds burns off in that process.  Hey presto ...........clean aluminium that can be poured for another ingot of aluminium - ready for reuse.

Sure, slightly simplified, but surely with an aluminium pod, where the metal is recyclable many times, almost indefinitely ........It Is NOT An Issue!

Maybe with plastic it might be, but there are systems you can refill yourself, with your own selection of coffee.  Been around for a number of years, and Di Bella sells them.  See www.mydibellacoffee.com.au .

Storm in  a coffee cup?