to recycle your pods you need to collect them in a plastic bag and return to a Nespresso collection point. (As of September 2016, Nespresso also sells pre-paid Australia Post satchels consumers can send back to the company for recycling, with up to 130 capsules at a time.) The company claims that by 2013 they were able to collect 75 per cent of all capsules sold worldwide, but they haven't revealed data on how many they actually recycle. In Australia, pod collection is done by a company called TerraCycle, whose mission is to divert hard-to-recycle waste from landfills.

How did I end up with a new coffee machine? Well, I was contacted by the folks at TerraCycle as part of their initiative to spread the word about recycling coffee capsules. Coffee machines that use capsules have become quite popular during the last few years since they’re easy to use and taste a million times better than instant coffee (and I imagine all those Nespresso ads with George Clooney may have helped too). But all those coffee capsules create a lot of garbage, right? Not necessarily! What many people probably don’t realize is that you don’t have to throw your capsules in the trash – many of them are recyclable. As someone who has been using a Nespresso machine multiple times a day for several years, this was pretty exciting for me to discover. And when TerraCycle offered to send my coffee-addicted self a new machine, well that was even more exciting. In case you’d like to know a little something about who gave your reviewer her machine (and/or are interested in recycling), let me quickly give you the rundown on what TerraCycle is. TerraCycle is a company dedicated to ‘eliminating the idea of waste’ by recycling things that are generally considered ‘non-recyclable’. They operate in 20 different countries including Australia, the US, Canada, the UK and France. In Australia, TerraCycle has recently partnered with Dolce Gusto to raise awareness about recycling coffee capsules. As mentioned in the post, I received a Dolce Gusto ‘Stelia’ machine from TerraCycle (Australia). You can find out more information about the coffee capsule recycling program on their website.

Recycling company TerraCycle has been trying to make a difference by teaming up with pod producing companies such as Nespresso. “We’re able to set up international platforms where you can send us the capsules, we pay you for shipping, we even give you a donation to your favourite school or charity for every capsule you send in and then we shred them,” explained TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky.

The former head of Nespresso, Jean-Paul Gaillard  is now claiming that coffee pods are killing the environment. If you do however want to stick with the Nespresso Pods, Lane Cove is lucky enough to have a place where they can be recycled.  Pureflowers has a Lane Cove recycling program for Nespresso capsules. Pureflowers is participating in a nationwide environmental program to help recycle coffee capsules. Nespresso has joined with recycling and upcycling experts TerraCycle Australia to expand their recycling program at additional collection points around the country at florists, garden centres and nurseries. Lane Cove residents can now recycle their used Nespresso capsules at no cost by visiting Pure Flowers and dropping their capsules (sealed in any plastic bag which will also be recycled) into the in-store recycling collection box.

Recycling  is important to Roz Liddell but drinking coffee is not. Even so, when the Lodge Floral Studio owner received a letter from Nespresso asking if her boutique business in Waitara would like to become a collection point for people to recycle their coffee pods, she jumped at the chance. Nespresso began contacting garden centres and florists to ask if they'd become collection points. "I literally rang them that afternoon and said I'm in." Nespresso supplies the collection boxes, which each hold 20kg of pods. "These [boxes] are picked up by courier post. We get our pre-packs all sent with courier stickers so it doesn't cost us anything. They go to TerraCycle." About three boxes are filled each month at Lodge Floral Studio. Once they're sent away the elements of the capsules are separated and turned into garden furniture like chairs and garden bricks. "I've always thought before you throw something away, what can you do with it to reuse it or can you recycle it," she said.

https://soundcloud.com/user-635121883/coffee-pods-bad-for-the-environment

Nespresso pods are made from aluminium and are easy to recycle. TerraCycle runs a recycling program for Nespresso with drop off locations in their Boutiques and hundreds of florists. TerraCycle also have a free post-back recycling programs for NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Capsule and other types of coffee pods. There is also a range of capsules called Eco-Caffe made from bio-degradable material. The manufacturer reports the pods breakdown in 180 days in a commercial composter (the kind that councils use to compost food waste).

Terracycle provide a great service that allows you to recycle your pods. You will need to collect them, clean them and send them through the post, alternatively depending on the brand you use, you can take them back to the store and have them recycle them for you. Nespresso pods can be taken directly to a Nespresso store that offers the recycling service. Nescafe Dulce Gusto pods can be sent to Terracycle for recycling.

Filling your recycling bin isn't enough: each Aussie home produces over one tonne of waste annually, and 70 percent of it still ends up in landfill. We are the second highest producers of waste per person in the world behind the United States. The question is what more can we do? Here’s how to shrink your waste and become an eco warrior.

When Toronto switched over, a few years back, to pay-by-size garbage cans, many green families took the hint and went small. Like really small.  In our household of five, it’s a kind of game we play, minimizing our throw-aways so they fit in the teeny-tiny black bin, picked up every two weeks. Green bins (compost) and blue bins (recycling,) on the other hand, are “free” from the city. Everybody knows that recycling and composting are good, so bring it on, right? We ordered the extra-large Blue Beast on wheels, and two green bins for good measure. A little voice in your Green Mom head starts to worry, though: is this stuff all *really* getting recycled? Sadly, just because you put it in your blue box, that doesn’t make it so. There are municipal workers on the receiving end of our best efforts, whose job it is to clean up our messes — both literally, and figuratively. Waste management staff are paid, with our tax dollars, to pick out all the non-recyclable junk we tried to slip past them because we weren’t sure, so erred on the side of green (or blue.) This drives up the cost of our municipal recycling program, and also bogs down its efficiency and effectiveness. Inappropriate items that slip through the cracks and accidentally enter the recycling stream also lessen the quality of the recycled end-product. This can make a city lose buyers for our stream of recyclables.

Are Bigger Blue Bins Better?

If your extra-large recycling bin is filled to the brim every two weeks, chances are you’re doing it (slightly) wrong. Two ways you might consider upping your Green Game are:

1. 1.      Poke through your bin to see what you recycle most, and try to reduce that packaging on at the grocery store or other point of purchase.
2. 2.      Challenge yourself to be really honest about what *should* be going in your blue box, and post a list beside the bin so everyone in the family knows for sure.

Something happens to you, once you decide to “go green.” When all the major, relatively easy green changes are made (like getting rid of chemical cleaners, and switching to reusable grocery bags) you start to notice the small stuff. Rather than rest on your green laurels, you set new, tougher, greener goals. “What, exactly, does go in the blue bins,” you wonder. Maybe you even do a little internet research. Turns out it’s kind of hard! Here’s a cheat sheet, if you’re in the City of Toronto, to help you understand the “new rules” for some common family items. You can learn more about what happens to the things in your blue bin here. Coffee Pods: I have recently discovered a way to tap into the great TerraCycle coffee pod & squeeze pouch recycling program. A coffee delivery company in the GTA called GoJava.ca will deliver coffee pods (for your Tassimo, Keurig or Nespresso machine) to your door, and pick up your empties to be turned into park benches and playgrounds. The coffee inside gets composted too!