Biodegradable coffee pods can be composted in your home compost systems. They are unsuitable for your green-lidded bin. All other brands of coffee pods need to go in your red-lidded bin. Alternatively, you could consider purchasing reuseable pods.
Grind coffee pods are certified home-compostable, and will fully decompose within 180 days (26 weeks) in your home compost - quicker than garden grass cuttings, and can also be placed into your food-waste bin.
Throwing them in the green waste bin
This only applies to compostable coffee pods. They are compostable in nature and thus, can be thrown into one's home compost. They can also be thrown into the green waste bin if the local council uses industrial composting facilities.
Depending on where you live, you can recycle your pods through your local council's household waste & recycling collection services or via the Podback Drop-Off service provided through Yodel. Whichever service you use, you will need your free Podback bags.
Yes, you can recycle K-Cup® pods but only if you separate the pod components. “K-Cup® pods consist of a combination of plastic, aluminum, organic material (coffee grounds) and a paper filter. While all said items can be easily recycled separately, the K-Cup® pod as a whole cannot be recycled.
Nespresso capsules cannot be put in your normal, household recycling bins. That's why Nespresso has teamed-up with Yodel, enabling you to put your used capsules in a bespoke recycling bag before dropping them off at one of our thousands of collection points nationwide.
Most coffee pods are made from plastic or a combination of aluminium and plastic, and of course they contain the used coffee grounds as well. This means that you can't just put them into your recycling bin, even if you live in an area where aluminium is collected as part of your household recycling collection.
Coffee capsules and pods (both plastic and aluminium) should never be put in your recycling bin at home. They can only be recycled through specialised recycling programs.
Bring your used coffee capsules to the nearest Nespresso Boutique or participating collection points. Use a bulk recycling box to collect on behalf of your community or workplace. Fill your Nespresso Australia Post satchel with used capsules and return via Australia Post.
Disposing of Your Coffee Pods
Dispose in your garden or in the recycling bin like you would any other compostable foodstuff. Or, simply pop it in your general waste bin where it'll be whisked off to landfill for a speedy, natural breakdown. It's as easy and as straightforward as that!
Put compostable coffee pods into your black cart as garbage. Coffee grounds inside the pod can be put in your green cart for composting.
In most cases, you'll need to send your coffee pods off to be composted on an industrial level. The reason for this is the high levels of heat required to break down the material. Some pods are made of bamboo resin and corn-based material. These K-Cups have been shown to break down in 90 days.
These McCafé K-Cup single serve pods are compatible with all Keurig K-Cup and 2.0 brewing systems, and are 100% compostable.
Coffee pods are made up of many materials, which makes them unsuitable for your household recycling and food waste bins. Nespresso Coffee pods can be returned for recycling but all other coffee pods should be placed in the general waste bin.
Through collaboration with Nestle (Nespresso) and Woolworths, the PODcycle project is establishing a national scheme to collect and recycle coffee capsules and pods of all types and brands.
You can place your used capsule straight into your home composter with your other organic waste. Our paper-based capsules are certified for home composting by TÜV AUSTRIA. If you don't have home composter, Nespresso offers a collection service in-boutique and will compost them for you.
In addition to Keurig K-Cups, Nespresso coffee pods (or capsules, as the company calls them) are recyclable. These are made of aluminum rather than plastic. Pods for the lesser-known Nescafé Dolce Gusto and Tassimo T-Disc pod coffee makers can also be recycled.
Currently 16 brands can be recycled through the scheme, including Nespresso and Starbucks. Aldi own label pods are to be added early next year. Shoppers must print a label and order a plastic bag from the scheme's website at Podback.org, to be used when dropping off the pod at a collection point.
We use aluminium for our capsules as it protects the quality of our coffee and it's infinitely recyclable. Aluminium comes with multiple functional and environmental benefits that make it an excellent choice for our capsules. In fact, we believe aluminium has the potential to become an icon for sustainable consumption.
At Nespresso we are committed to giving your used capsules a second life. Please select the amount of Recycling Bags you would like to receive and click on Order. Each bag can hold up to 200 OriginalLine / 100 VertuoLine capsules.
Coffee pods are made of a combination of plastics and aluminum. They take anywhere from 150 to 500 years to break down in landfills, so they aren't exactly environmentally friendly. Furthermore, the plastic that holds the coffee may contain harmful chemicals that may seep into the coffee that you will consume.
Although most researchers agree that coffee pods produce fewer emissions than filter coffee, that's not to say there aren't other, more environmentally friendly ways of making a cup of coffee – or that the impacts of coffee pods are equal in every city or country.