Coffee & Recycling

So on Monday, while out searching for garden furniture (among other things) I decided to treat myself. Not to the awesome garden rocking chair/recliner (though I'll be getting that in due course, believe me), but to a coffee machine.

If you know me, you know I love my coffee.

In the past I've owned many different coffee machines; most recently I had an excellent pump espresso machine that made delicious coffee, but it died during the house move the other year so I've been making do with instant (generally just when my dad's visiting) and cafetiere (mostly at work). Indeed, I use one of these bad boys at work:

Cafetiere mug - the de facto badge of the English teacher

But the fact is, it's a faff to make coffee that way. It takes time and effort - both of which are in short supply these days - and I've discovered that unless you rinse really, really carefully, coffee grounds get EVERYWHERE in the dishwasher. Less than ideal.

So when I saw Tesco had a special offer on a Tassimo machine, I couldn't resist.

Is the coffee quite as nice as grinding your own beans and making it from scratch? No. Is it close though? Yes. And is it less faff? Hell yes, to the power of 3.

The only nagging concern I was left with was the wastage. I'm an environmentally concerned chap, and of course the box etc. was all getting recycled. But I wasn't sure what to do with the little pod things (t-discs, apparently). Were they recyclable? Would I have to open them up and scrape out the grounds, thus negating the whole no-faff thing?

Mercifully, no.

My Google-fu revealed this excellent site: Terracycle.

They specialise in recycling (or upcycling) hard to recycle products, including... Tassimo t-discs. What's more, doing so also earns money for charity. Even better, the energy monitor Scottish Gas installed recently shows that the Tassimo machine uses a lot less power than boiling the kettle.

So...good coffee, less energy used, fully recyclable packaging that earns money for charity? Don't mind if I do.

Anyone fancy a coffee?

VBB

Postscript: when typing in the (factually accurate if uninspired) title of this post, a certain Blur song came to mind. If you're suffering the same affliction, enjoy. :)