34 STiR coffee and tea | 2023 Issue 4 (August / September)
I
By Thomas Schmid
n 2022, some 80 billion rigid single-serve coffee pods were sold worldwide. Of
that total, only 27 billion were made from recyclable aluminum. Most of those
aluminum pods — 80% — are made to be compatible with the Nespresso brewing
system. The other two dominant systems — Dolce Gusto, and K-Cup — use various
types of plastic, accounting for 53 billion pods in 2022. Yet only 4% were "biodegrad-
able" or "compostable" in one way or another.
"It really is a very small figure, but it still is much, much bigger than what it used
to be a decade or so ago when compostables were super, super, super niche," ex-
plained Martyna Fong, director of market intelligence at Applied Market Intelligence
Ltd. (AMI), a consultancy focused on the plastics industry and based in the United
Kingdom. Yet, although the compostables segment continues to grow, it remains a
drop in the vast ocean of rigid pods made from non-compostable plastics, predomi-
nantly polypropylene (PPL).
Coffee Capsule Conundrum:
Making Sense of EU Rules
Pods have made progress toward sustainability in recent years.
But coffee companies will struggle with pending regulations in
the critical European market.
Only about 4% of pods sold in 2022 were
compostable. Pictured here: Solinatra
capsules.
If revised EU rules become
binding, companies that
fill capsules must pay
a packaging tax and comply
with recyclability targets
— or ensure that their
products meet composting
requirements.
