Hamburg, Germany's second-largest city, has placed a ban on single-use coffee pods from government-run buildings, due to environmental concerns.
Coffee capsules, such as those produced by Nestlé's Nespresso brand and US-leader Keurig, have been banned, along with a number of other disposable packaging items as part of the city's Guide to Green Procurement.
As well as the ubiquitous coffee pods, bottled water and beer, chlorine-based cleaning products, air freshener, plastic plates and cutlery will also disappear from government buildings.
Speaking to the BBC, a spokesperson for Hamburg's Department of the Environment and Energy, Jan Dube, said that the capsules are not suitable for recycling because they are a mixture of plastic and aluminium.
"It's 6g of coffee in 3g of packaging. We in Hamburg thought that these shouldn't be bought with taxpayers' money," said Dube.
A Nespresso spokesperson recently defended the company with regards to the waste generated by the capsules. The ban allowed them "to highlight the growing recognition of the vital importance of being sustainable in everything we do".
"We commit to also doing more in terms of looking at new and increased ways to communicate to consumers, making sure the messages around where and how to recycle – and the value thereof – are heard and understood," the spokesperson added.
Pod machine sales have increased dramatically in Western Europe over the past five years. In 2013, pod machines outsold drip coffee-makers for the first time.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by John Golden. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
