Coffee, the drink that is loved by billions; some have it freshly-brewed, others-filtered and there are those who have it instant, but we won’t be focusing on that today.
Nespresso – a company that made quite a name for itself by packaging the ground coffee in small disposable capsules and delivering a quick, convenient and high quality experience to millions of kitchens and offices worldwide. Consequently, it started a new way of preparing coffee, but with a negative outcome that is often disregarded – waste. Due to the capsules being disposable, the brand recommends to throw them away after their one-time use. Granted, most of the capsules are made of aluminium, but many are plastic and it is simply insane to pollute the environment when what we need to focus on cleaning it. Since you care about the planet, here is how you could enjoy your coffee responsibly and recycle the materials too.
Here is the thing, it is much easier to recycle aluminium than plastic, and there are more facilities for it. Since the whole idea is to use these capsules more than once, it is best to buy the aluminium ones.
With a knife, puncture the top foil cover and gently peel it off. Clean the coffee and the paper at the bottom out of the capsule and wash it thoroughly. Normally the machines puncture three holes at the bottom of the capsule.
Dry the capsules using a kitchen or a paper towel.
Refill the capsules with the ground coffee of your choice.
Cut out aluminium foil in a shape of a circle or a square with rounded corners approximately 50mm in diameter. Next, cover the capsule with the foil and crimp it around the edges. Due to the machine being intolerant to any extra space around the capsule, make sure to crimp the foil tightly around the rim.
And voila, you are ready!
Overall, as with most of the DIY tricks, there will always be a ton of alternatives for sale. Additionally, even Nespresso and other manufacturers have active recycling programmes. However, the whole point of this DIY is to save the cost and to help the environment by reducing the amount of garbage you generate. In general, these capsules are useable for up to three more times, before you should discard them.
Additionally, you save money and the refilling does not take much time. And here is another plus, since they have already been opened, they can be cleaned and recycled. As the old saying goes, “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” So, let’s remember that.