Coffee Pods
Reduce
Eliminate pods
Choose coffee machines for your office that don’t require individual pods. Opt for machines that use beans or ground coffee as a lower-waste alternative.
Reusables
Choose reusable options
Offer or serve coffee in bulk reusable thermoses that employees can refill their own containers from.
Offer reusable pods and clean after each use.
COVID Tip: Design for contact-less refills.
COVID Tip: Separate clean and dirty pods with well-marked trays or containers.
Disposables
When reusables are not applicable, choose disposable options that are compatible with available waste management infrastructure.
Assessing your options
Check the labels and certifications to confirm if pods are home compostable or commercially compostable.
There are recyclable pod options made out of aluminum; however, many of these have multiple layers and materials making them not widely recyclable. Confirm with the manufacturer and with your building’s waste management partner or municipality whether these options work in your area.
Commercially compostable pods
Commercially compostable pods can be a solution if the waste is collected and sorted by building management or janitorial staff and then managed by a waste hauler that can handle commercial composting.
This can work in cafeteria service if your staff are handling the pods and can be trained to properly sort the compostable waste.
CALL OUT:
There are company-driven recycling programs that require you to ship collected pods back to the manufacturer for recycling. These programs come with major material and carbon footprint costs associated with the shipping, which nearly outweigh the benefits. View this as a last resort option.