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Earlier today, a friend posted a picture on social media showing a large pile of Nespresso™ style capsules she had been given to try. What she undoubtedly saw as good coffee, I saw as an environmental disaster, and I said so. Her reply was 'they're aluminium' as though that made everything right, because they could be recycled. That took no account of the energy required to produce the aluminium in the first place. As a scientist, it got me thinking. It seems that each Nespresso™ capsule contains 5-6g of coffee and 1g of aluminium. Given that my regular mug is made with 28g of coffee that's the equivalent of five capsules just for one drink. And I'll typically have four of those a day, sometimes more. If I were to use Nespresso™ capsules rather than fresh beans, I would end up with twenty grams of aluminium per day for recycling. That may not sound much, but when I buy 500g of fresh beans, the paper bag only weighs 15g, and that lasts four to five days. Paper also doesn't need anywhere near as much energy to recycle as aluminium. The product to packaging ratio for the capsules is abysmal. CSIRO, the Australian government's scientific research body, published a report; Energy use in metal production [pdf]. Aluminium is the least energy efficient common metal to produce. Each kilogram of aluminium expends 211.4MJ of energy during mining, smelting and other processing. That's 211.4kJ per single use capsule just in production of the raw material, before it's shipped around the world and formed into coffee pods. We can ignore that for the moment and look at what 211.4kJ actually means in everyday terms. A measure of energy usage which people can more easily relate to is the kilowatt hour (kWh) - a one kilowatt electric heater running continuously for one hour will use one kilowatt hour of energy. 211.4kJ is equivalent to 0.0587kWh. That doesn't sound like a lot but it's about sixty watt hours; the amount of energy used by a sixty watt bulb running for an hour. Just for one coffee capsule, and just for the raw aluminium. I would use five capsules in a mug so that's three hundred watt hours in one go. A four times a day habit takes the total up to an hour and ten minutes of running a one kilowatt electric fire - every single day. If that isn't a scary way of looking at the environmental impact of these coffee capsules, I don't know what is. The producers try to tout their environmental credentials by promoting their recycling schemes but the material isn't environmentally friendly in the first place and producers don't yet have the capacity to recycle all the capsules they produce. Even when they have, consumers will still throw vast numbers away with general waste. Given that there's no likelihood of regulatory action to ban these products, consumer awareness of the environmental impact is the only way forward.

Hi all Apologies if this has been covered but I’ve searched and not found anything! ive just ordered 150 vertuoplus capsules but need a reasonably priced capsule holder for them! Anyone found anything really useful? £22.99 for Nespresso’s cube seems a bit excessive to me thanks in advance

Hello, I know some people will read this and will look at me and think of me in disgust I do apologise. At a starting point I much prefer my coffee pods and machines rather than grinding my own beans. For now anyway. I love my Nespresso and Milk Citiz Machine. I also love the price of the coffee pods. Much more affordable than say Tassimo. Usually between £2.90 / £3.50 per 10 capules depending on variety. I have now however noticed a lot of cheaper "compatible" versions. The newest ones I have come across is some in Lidl only £1.79 for 10 an absolute bargain for a drink! Whilst they may not be able to provide the best taste or in some cases a better one, What's everyone's opinion using compatible capsules. Is this a good thing? Will it damage or break my machine. The one I had today seemed to work perfectly fine. But I just wanted to make sure this is okay, before I bulk up more on the bargains. Your opinions and advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Benjamin

I'd just like to hear peoples views on the rise of Nespresso/coffee capsules, personally I find the body of the coffee very light and watery. I guess people seeking a quick caffeine hit are the target market? Opinions/views?

I have been handed an empty box that contained Nespresso Roma Capsules/Pods, and asked to find out where the best place is to buy these. The question has been posed on behalf of my wife's work colleague who has a Nespresso machine at home. Web links would be appreciated as mail order is her preferred purchase method The best link is now here

Hi Everyone, Wanted to share a short article that was written about us over the weekend. If anyone wants more information, please PM me. Many thanks, Amir http://europe.newsweek.com/how-one-entrepreneur-reinventing-coffee-pod-542657

As above - bought these to try - and concluded that although these are the closest I've got - Nespresso (in all it's forms) just isn't my bag. The full pack is 40 capsules and £26 posted. This is 31 capsules. Most of the nine are taken from the least expensive of the three coffees, so I'm left with: 9 (out of 10) of the Carmen Est. Geisha Panama. 15 (out of 20) of the Cavla Colombian. 7 (out of 10) of the Nano Challa Ethiopian. £26 divided by 40 capsules is 65p 31 x 65p is £20.15 So - how about £18 including postage?

400 Empty Compatible Capsules for Nespresso Coffee Machine. Anyone tried them? They seem pretty cheap. Click Here to view