Try writing to the company and expressing your disgust for the wasteful pods. I'd think someone online would know a clever way to DIY the pods. And please buy shade grown coffee. Sun grown destroys huge amounts of rainforest.

No reason the birds, mammals and marine life should suffer when there are an abundance of creative solutions.

You can recycle Nespresso pods at Sur La Table if you have one of their stores near you.

We recycle the pods at Bloomies.

You and boyfriend sound so cute together

I own a Nespresso too. And I love mine. I was very skeptical of them when I first learned about them, but I was won over by a) the taste of the coffee, and b) the convenience. It literally takes me about two minutes to make my morning latte now.

Ditto to what Indy Jeffrey said about recycling the pods. Also, be sure to check with your local recycling center, because many of them will take the capsules now.

As for the cost of the capsules, they aren't cheap. But it's way cheaper than the high priced espressos/coffees at cafes and coffeehouses (and in my opinion tastes better too!)

I have a superautomatic espresso machine and it's the best of both worlds. Freshly ground and brewed at a touch of a button plus no pod waste.

Not sure where you live but, the Nespresso store also recycles them. I'm in Boston and the store provides us with a convenient recycling bag when we stock up.

Pods can't be recycled, only downcycled into cheap plastic junk.

You can also drop your used pods off to the Nespresso store. They will remove the grinds and recycle them for you.

Has anyone tried the my-kap (http://www.my-cap.com)? It seems like a possible good solution to the two where you'd be able to save the space and have the convenience of your nespresso but with less of the waste of the disposable cups. If you do let me know!

FWIW, you can buy a reusable pod for the Keurig K-cup machines- they're about $10 bucks, and work great for your favorite coffee....

There's this one which uses a cartridge that swaps out with the normal holder: http://www.amazon.com/Keurig-K-Cup-Reusable-Coffee-Filter/dp/B000DLB2FI

And there's also this one, which has a little flap and can go into the normal holder directly: http://www.ekobrew.com/

I share the love/hate things with nespresso such as the wastefullness, but I'd also add that the company behind the name isn't very good either.

Aside from Nestle being a crappy company in terms of social responsibility, they have also fully patented their cup design meaning anyone who wants to make their own pod for the machine isn't allowed to. They've sued everyone who has tried into the ground. The only third party cup is owned by the inventor of the system and you can only buy them online or through Harrod's in London... ? There is one eco-pod that is refillable (called coffee duck) but that's the only one I know of.

In Canada, you can only buy the pods from one of 6 locations across the entire country (or order online and wait). William's Sonoma sells the machines, but not the pods. Same with many other stores... Why not sell the pods too??

ALSO, since they control all the supply, the selection is limited to whatever they decide to put out. You can't choose your coffee.

I'm glad to be rid of the one I lived with (my former roommate has one). Making regular coffee is just fine with me and when I want an espresso I'll buy one and have them put it in my reusable cup.

Apparently, the 20 year patent on the pod design just ran out. So expect to see a lot more nespresso pod options coming your way soon!

Oh, I forgot it's Nestle that makes them (thanks, Carrotsticks). This company has predated the water supplies of 4 towns and has destroyed incredibly large areas of rainforest and continue to do so. Either skip their products or just toss responsibility out the window along with your conscience.

Actually, you can clean out your Nespresso capsules and place them in recycling bins. In some areas you can get mailers to send them back to the company. Nespresso does not sell the capsules in retail outlets because they want to insure freshness. The cost of the capsules is far less than the cost of those sold by Starbucks. The selection is not limited and you can choose your favorites. I don't work for Nespresso but work at another kitchen store. I received a great deal of training. Not sure where some of you are getting the inaccurate information.

@Ellen do you know what, in a practical sense, they make out of the supposedly recycled pods? Do they make more pods (and how long is the life cycle until it degrades) or do they make extremely cheap plastic downcycled stuff?

Gads, don't we have enough crappy *downcycled* products out there with all the plastic water bottles? Sorry, but in this day and age with the awareness we presumabley have, I can't believe enviromentally unfriendly products like this are still being sold - or bought. Buy yourself a stove top esspresso maker. Yes, you will have to spend an extra 2 minutes (gasp) grinding your coffee - or just grind the beans when you buy them. Sorry, I don't mean to preach, but this kind of stuff frustrates me so much. Think of all the people out there who are too lazy to even bring those pods in to a place to have them downcycled. So they all end up in the landfill, millions and millions of them. It's absolutely ridiculous.

I believe they were using them as part of the material for the sides of the Pixie machine. Don't know much more than that.

I used to use a Keurig machine at work for mostly the same reasons. I thought the coffee was mediocre (depending strongly on the brand of K-cups you use), and I didn't like the waste, but it was just so easy and quick. Also, still cheaper than buying coffee, even with my reusable mug.

I recently got an Aeropress, though, and am using that pretty exclusively. You can buy whatever coffee you like, the filters are very inexpensive, the coffee tastes great, and cleanup is minimal.

For what it's worth, I agree that Nestle is not a great company to support, but they are the parent company for a TON of brands. They own Cheerios, San Pelligrino, Gerber, PowerBar, Friskies, Haagen-Daz, and many, many others. Unless you are very vigilant, boycotting the compnay is difficult.

Wait, Nestle patented their invention so that they could make a profit on it and no one else can? AND the control the supply of their coffee. How evil! I agree that Nestle has done some shady things, but this is pretty silly. These are coffee pods, not AIDS drugs. Nestle makes them to make money. None of us need them to live, or even to make coffee. They are a convenience item. And I think you can be a responsible person and still choose to use them, and make other, more environmentally sound choices elsewhere.

I'm planning to register for the Hamilton Beach scoop coffee maker. No disposable cups; you scoop your coffee with their basket/scoop and it makes up to 14 oz. of coffee in the same amount of time as a Keurig (or similar). It's also a steal comparatively (64$) and you can use any coffee you like. Fiance uses french press now, which I find too strong and sometimes ...greasy. There also ends up being a lot of waste if we don't drink it all. I'm looking forward to being able to brew just one cup at a time as needed.

@Indy Jeffrey Really?! I had no idea! Thanks so much for the tip.

I agree with all the objections to it; and yet I love my Nespresso machine.

With all I know about Nestle as a food company, I would not support them. However, in terms of the coffee this machine makes, all I can say is, it is a very small step up from those "pods" that here in Europe are called Senseo, which just make bilge water, in my opinion.

I usually only use the pod machines when I'm babysitting as all of the family's I work for have them! I agree that they only make okay coffee.
Every time I pop one of those in, I think back to a New York Times article about the capsule phenomenon and according to their research, a pound of coffee (in capsule cups) can cost upwards $50!! I think the price alone is enough to deter me.
I think there are lots of other fun and more economical ways of making coffee.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/dining/single-serve-coffee-brewers-make-convenience-costly.html?_r=0

Aren't these things just like the Keureg (sp?): all that is in the pod is instant coffee and this is machine is an over-glorified/priced hot water heater?

Me thinks a can of instant espresso powder and an electric kettle would achieve the same thing if you are conflicted about purchasing your own.

But why settle for freeze dried espresso if you have the time to make it? You might as well go to Starbucks if you are going to pay the expense and substitute the quality.

My cousin has a Nespresso as well and swears by it. I tried it once when I was visiting and if I was a coffee lover I'd splurge on the machine (and pods) as well.

Also, the first time she made me a latte with it we were so distracted chatting and catching up that she actually kept her pod in the machine and reused it - instead of tossing it and giving me a new pod. We honestly didn't taste the difference. So, just saying, for those who cringe at the waste/cost of those pods, if you're not a huge strong coffee stickler try using one pod for two cups and see if it fits your fancy!

Nestle is a predatory and evil company. They're like the Exxon of the supermarket. Anyone with a soul should look into their greenwashing and inhumane activities and never buy from them again. They stole water supplies from the public reservoirs of small towns and caused loads of rainforest destruction.

Indonesia hosts 12 percent of all mammal species and 17 percent of bird species on the planet. By 2001, the country lost 99 million acres of rainforest thanks to palm oil products like the ones from Nestle.

Yes they own a lot of brands, but it's stupidly easy to replace them, even if you only shop at a big supermarket. They own Cheerios, San Pelligrino, Gerber, PowerBar, Friskies, Haagen-Daz,

Poland Spring bottled water: that's easy, buy a filter and a glass water bottle.

Cheerios: Try Nature's Sunrise especially the flax, amaranth and quinona mix.

Ice cream: you local dairy farmer should be able to point you to a local supplier.

Coffee: Please for the love of god, buy shade grown. You can order it online (links below)

Friskies and Purina: well this stuff is poison anyway. If you must buy commercial then Wellness isn't a bad food, but cats and dogs really need fresh food I recommend a book called Your Cat by Hodgkins.

Nestlé's lies:

http://www.coffeehabitat.com/2013/02/nestle-no-certification/
http://birdwatchingdaily.com/en/Getting%20Started/Featured%20Stories/2012/12/The%20true%20cost%20of%20coffee.aspx

(The sentence about Cheerios etc was supposed to be a reply to Science and the City. Sorry, the sentence got cut off).

So are you suggesting that if a company invests $20 billion into inventing a cure for AIDs (which, by the way, is a completely realistic figure) it should proceed to give this drug away? A pretty poor way to incentivise businesses to develop a cure for AIDs, don't you think?

"Aside from Nestle being a crappy company in terms of social responsibility, they have also fully patented their cup design meaning anyone who wants to make their own pod for the machine isn't allowed to. They've sued everyone who has tried into the ground. The only third party cup is owned by the inventor of the system and you can only buy them online or through Harrod's in London... ?" - carrotsticks

This sounds a lot like the business practices of Apple to me.

live in switzerland, love the nespresso machine, i have the exact same one, pixie in red. it's easy to order the capsules, no shipping costs if you order 200 at once and you can return them for recycling just as easily. just bring them to the next nespresso boutique. if that is too tiresome, nespresso even put up a system where you just give the used capsules to the mailman in a special nespresso bag. the coffee is excellent, so much better than overpriced starbucks or McD coffee drinks. the machine works without problems, cleaning is a matter of 2 minutes and i like the design, it does not use much space on the kitchen counter. more room for a huge fruit bowl.

I would like to point out that Nespresso capsules are made of aluminum, not plastic. And they can be recycled. For whatever that's worth.

ALL aluminum? Are you sure? That would make the coffee taste pretty horrid, wouldn't it? I'm pretty sure the lining at least is plastic.

Aside from that the pods probably get tossed in the garbage by many folks and the tiny things would be very time and energy intensive to recycle. Plus Nestles still evil!

Why not get a stove-top moka pot to make espresso? It might not make the best crema in the world, but it's relatively quick and relatively easy to clean up, comes in different sizes...

Other personal-sized coffee makers that don't involve pods: personal-sized French presses (my coworker recently marveled at how tiny the one was I was using at work the other day, which I found quite amusing since it was a wedding gift from her!) that make exactly one cup of coffee, or a briki/ibrik/cezve/raqwa/etc. for making Greek/Turkish coffee, which also comes in various sizes.

I hate these Nespresso machines. Personally I think they burn the coffee as well, it taste too sharp from them. I use a conventional press for ground coffee or a stove moka top as mentioned above. I do think the stove top takes a bit too much cleaning up though, but better still than a bin full of plastic containers

Whew there's a lot of lecturing here. We're human beings. We all make our compromises.

I don't have a pod-style coffee maker, but I do use plastic straws in my beverages. When does the witch hunt on that start?

No lecturing, just awareness. Nestlé does their best to cover up these things and people have the right to know. What's done with the information is up to the individual.

@ek76:

I was just pointing out that it's much different than the K-Cup thing where any company can make a compatible pod therefore giving you almost unlimited choices. Nestle decided not to allow any company to make a compatible pod, hence, your selection is limited to what they decide to put on the market. It's not unethical, just limiting and a huge disadvantage to using their system. So, for whatever it's worth, it's just a fact. Make your own choice...

@j_brunner: It's not really like Apple's business practices. Apple allows you to buy or download software from a third party developer. Not sure why the comparison... If you're talking about iPhone, then yes, they take a cut of apps revenue, but they also facilitate all transactions, provide an enromous market and provide quality control for their customers. Nestle simply says "no" to third parties.

Emmi's right - no lecturing, but it's good to have all the info in front of you before you decide to throw 365 pods into the landfill every year. Not only is it 365 pods, but those pods are manufactured, then shipped (huge volume compared to shipping beans) in boxes of 10. I mean... you can make your own choices, but at least give it some thought.

we have an Outpresso -it's a device that turns the pods inside out.. you compost the grounds & then recycle the pods (they're made out of aluminum).. it takes a little bit of work, but I feel much better about it not putting them in the trash!

I agree w/ the flavor and cost. However, I think think the cost of the capsules are a lot less than the cost of a Starbucks latte 5 days a week AND considering it would cost a whole lot more for an espresso machine that wouldn't poop out on me in 6 months time like my cheapo Target one did...this seemed like an okay deal. I realize too that fresh ground coffee would taste a whole lot better but at the same time the Nespresso capsules could taste a whole lot worse. It IS way better than those yucky Kurigs. Blugh! and PS you can recycle the capsules at Sur la Table but I think several people have mentioned this already. :) Any time I want fresh, regular cafe I have my trusty $10.00 5-cup drip machine ready to go as well.

FYI folks, you do NOT want to buy a refillable capsule for the Nespresso machines. They use 19 bars of pressure and there has not been a refillable capsule made that can withstand that so they end up exploding inside the machine.