In addition to the container, what worries environmentalists is the content of this type of capsule. “The problem with these innovations is that they give the impression that we can consume coffee without any environmental problem.“, notes Florian Kasser, consumption and circular economy expert at Greenpeace Switzerland, during an interview with AFP.
However, coffee has a bad ecological footprint, regardless of the method of preparation. “When brewing coffee, it is mostly the ingredient itself that has an impact on the environment. More than the packaging or the type of machine used“, explains Renaud De Bruyn, waste and food expert at Ecoconso.
On average, in terms of carbon footprint, coffee weighs 3x more than packaging
Sébastien Humbert, expert in ecological assessment at Quantis compared the eco-assessment of a cup of coffee from a Swiss brand machine, one from an Italian coffee maker, one from filter coffee, another from capsule, and finally a cup of instant coffee. “On average, in terms of carbon footprint, coffee weighs 3x more than packaging“, he explains at the microphone of the RTS. Result: soluble coffee has the best eco-balance, since it also contains less brown gold.
As for the other preparation methods, their score is substantially similar depending on whether there is an overdose, whether the coffee is organic, whether the container is recycled, whether the device belongs to a good energy class, etc.