Anyone found a good way to quickly extract the coffee grounds from k cup pods? I have a pretty steady supply of these, but processing them is more effort than I'd like.
Ahhh thanks! rinsing in water is a great idea, hadn't thought to try that.
As people have said, there are brands where the pod is compostable too, saying that, cut everything up first, the poor wee worms Dinna hae big mooths
(I am Scottish)
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1.5y
I've been wanting to try a French press.
You should! I have no opinion on the quality of French press vs pods but in terms of sustainability there shouldn’t be any waste from a French press as far as I know
There are brands of pod coffee that have compostable pods and packaging, so it may be easier to just change your coffee brand. I personally use San Francisco Bay Coffee and add the whole pod to my compost. Breaks down with no issues.
As others have mentioned, reusable pods are also a great way to easily compost single serve coffee.
They make a little K cup slicer that takes the top off like a can opener. We actually found it at Walmart.
Use a butter knife and cut a + in the middle of the lid. Peel the lid off. Now scrape the coffee grounds out into a bowl.
That's what we do.
It can be tough with those single-use coffee pods but here's what I do personally:
I firstly collect several weeks of them up in a container so I can do a couple dozen at once. Then as someone has already mentioned, I take a knife and carefully cut as large a hole as possible in the pod and put the whole thing in a big bowl of water. The water washes out the grounds and then I just remove each pod, giving them a little swish, and pour the water and grounds onto my compost pile!
Hopefully this little tip helps - I get all my compost help from the team at montycompost.co ;)
Is the filter part of the k cup compostable or is it some type of plastic coated mesh?
Straight from the website - "Our new pods are made of polypropylene #5 plastic, which is accepted for recycling in the majority of communities across the United States." - so doesn't sound like they're compostable :(
Thanks
Filter is paper and can be composted. The plastic housing can be recycled once the foil and organics are out of it.
Not worth it. You can buy refillable K pods I think though.
You can. My wife uses them. It is very easy to get the ground out of the refillable pods.
I would recommend switching your coffee routine to a French press. The quality is so much better, the strength customizable, zero plastic packaging involved and SUPER easy to harvest the spent grounds.
I used to do this as well thinking Zero waste, but there are some concerns with French Press coffee with some compounds that aren’t filtered out like it normally would in brewed coffee with a filter that effects the heart. Not sure how bad that concern should be though.
Assuming k cups are similar to dolce gusto pods that I get grounds from, I found the fastest way is to just cut the top foil with a small knife, then jiggle the pod around in a bowl full of water and just pour that on the heap.