Sustainability

You may have heard about the negative environmental impact of some single-use coffee pods. Long before we decided to form Bull Creek Dry Goods, we wanted to know if there was a way to do single-use coffee right. Coffee is great, but only for as long as we have a planet where we can sip it.

You might not be surprised to learn that our aluminum capsules are significantly more environmentally friendly than plastic pods, but did you know that aluminum Nespresso®-compatible capsules are often more environmentally friendly than a traditional pull of espresso? That's because the highly optimized extraction process uses the exact amount of beans necessary to pull a perfect shot. Using coffee more efficiently means a lower environmental footprint all the way from the farm on down. An aluminum Nespresso®-compatible capsule uses around 30% less coffee than the average traditional espresso pull per shot--with no reduction in flavor, strength, or volume.

Take a look at the footprint of a four-shot latte:

Notes

According to Reuters, Aluminum cans generate 11.09 tons of CO2 emissions per ton if they go unrecycled, meaning that our 1.3g aluminum capsules generate approximately 14.42g of CO2 emissions if you fail to recycle them. If you make a three or four shot latte at home and don’t recycle the capsules, you’re generating 43.25-57.67g of CO2 from the capsules themselves. Compare that to a paper coffee cup which The Guardian says creates an average of 60.9g of CO2.

The Arbor Day Foundation says that the entire process of taking coffee beans from seed to cup generates 11lbs of CO2 for every 1lb of roasted coffee. Nespresso machines use a highly efficient extraction process that means a four-shot latte uses around 22g of roasted beans and generates 242g of CO2. Two traditionally-pulled double shots of espresso would use 32g of roasted beans and generate 352g of CO2. Even if you're making your own shots at home with a reusable mug, the more efficient use of coffee beans more than makes up for the added carbon footprint of the aluminum capsules.