Lavazza has created totally compostable pods

Jason Kempin / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

The Italian Lavazza will be the first global company in the coffee sector to propose waffles totally compostable. A revolution that today more than ever appears necessary, in the world in fact, it has been calculated, there are about 20 billion capsules used every day, as many as they would be enough, as The Guardian writes, to go around the planet Earth 14 times.

How to dispose of the capsules?

Coffee pods, according to research published just a few days ago, represent, as far as recycling is concerned, almost an object of mystery: over a third of coffee consumers in the United Kingdom admit to throwing their used capsules into the trash because they do not they know how dispose of them correctly. A problem that Lavazza has solved using those it is already advertising on its English site as Eco Caps, biopolymer-based casings that decompose in just six months but, above all, can safely be thrown away with food waste. Thus the problem deriving from the use of a mix of different materials such as plastic, film and aluminum is dribbled.

In addition, Lavazza, for those areas that have not yet been reached by the obligation to sort out or, on the contrary, comply with stricter rules on food waste, together with TerraCycle, a US private recycling company, has agreed to organize a series of points of abandonment of capsules from customers. An operation similar to that carried out by Nespresso, which for some years has been encouraging consumers to return their used aluminum capsules to the United Kingdom in special bags.

Lavazza and the others

Lavazza actually takes its place in the wake of smaller companies that have long thought of a more product eco friendly, the Guardian interviewed Richard Hardwick, co-founder of Halo, a company that studied 100% biodegradable sugar cane and paper pulp-based capsules: “The coffee revolution has taken place and one of the main challenges facing the industry must face is the result of millions of tons of waste. Aluminum and plastic coffee capsules are difficult to recycle, so most of them end up in the trash. Most people do not understand the irreversible damage that these coffee capsules are causing to the planet ". David Rogers, CEO of Lavazza UK, said:" This important investment confirms our commitment to excellence and sustainable development ".

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