Thousands of coffee pods sent to landfill sites every minute

We’re a nation of coffee lovers, and according to research by YouGov, we drink most of it in our homes or at work, with 57% of us having at least 1 cup a day. We’re such big fans that studies show we send nearly 30,000 plastic and aluminium coffee pods to landfill each minute!

Despite most coffee pods on the market featuring recyclable materials or being ‘industrially compostable’, more than a third of us admit to just throwing them away, instead of recycling them. In fact, 4 in 10 Brits agree that you don’t have to dispose of coffee pods ethically because of their small size, with 95% believing they take less than 60 years to decompose. The truth is that plastic pods take on average 500 years to break down and usually end up in oceans, polluting our ecosystem and harming wildlife.

Research carried out by coffee brand Grind has found that 28% of us choose to buy single-use coffee pods but 22% of UK adults don’t know what to look for when choosing the most environmentally friendly. And among all the mixed messages, 4 in 10 Brits either don’t know or think recyclable aluminium and compostable pods are the same.

Aston spoke to gardener and TV presenter Daisy Payne.

Photo by Mike Kenneally on Unsplash