How many of you out there love waking up to the convenience of single coffee pod brewing systems? They’re fabulous. You can brew exactly enough for yourself, you can switch flavors up frequently, it’s ready for you at the click of a button and….
It’s wreaking havoc on the environment.
According to a 2021 Daily Mail article, almost 30,000 coffee pods end up in landfills every month and will take roughly 500 years to decompose.
“Coffee pods are one of the best examples of unnecessary single-use plastics that are polluting our planet,” John Hocevar, the campaign director of Greenpeace USA, an environmental nonprofit organization, told USA Today in 2019.
The pods, which are generally made of plastic, can make their way into rivers, lakes and oceans and kill wildlife. It’s especially alarming to consider that 40% of the U.S. population owns a single-cup brewing system, according to 2022 findings from Statista.
The good news is there may soon be an environmentally friendly alternative.
Migros, a Swiss retailer, is on a mission to deliver the convenience of the single-pod coffee makers without the negative environmental impact.
The CoffeeB Globe coffee machine will merge the technology of a fully automated system with the advantages of a capsule machine, according to Migros’ press release. The machine switches off after just one minute, keeping it energy efficient.
And, rather than having to dispose of pods after each use, CoffeeB will use “coffee balls,” which are fully compostable and encased in a seaweed-based cover, instead of capsules. The balls can be thrown away right along with the coffee.
Those of you that are interested may have to wait awhile, however. The current plan for the new product to be rolled out in Switzerland first, followed by France later this year and then Germany in 2023.
No word yet on when or if the product will be available stateside, but the hope is that other companies will follow suit and make their products more environmentally-friendly so consumers can cut back on their carbon footprint without having to give up their morning indulgence.
