712 kg – that’s the amount of waste an average Swiss produces each year. The OECD average is just 483 kg. In the industrialized countries, only the people in the US and Denmark produce more waste.

We don’t want to contribute to this horrible fact. That’s why we tried to choose our packaging as environmentally friendly as possible.

Lean packaging for whole beans and ground coffee

Instead of a package that needs an extra carton around to be shipped we opted for a coffee envelope for our whole beans and ground coffee. Even though it’s outside is made out of paper, the inside is not. Please recycle it in the normal household rubbish. The coffee envelope reduces waste, but it also allows us to send the coffee as a standard letter – and thus to make the shipping as cheap as possible for you.

Packaging for biodegradable capsules

Unfortunately, that doesn’t work for the capsules. They’re small, but still too big for a letter. We will send them in an aluminium-free box that contains 40 capsules. The box conserves the aromas very well even though it is environmentally friendly. So even though our capsules are not 100% impermeable, the coffee will still be fresh when you want to drink it.

Wait – you wonder why they are not impermeable like all the other capsules? Because they are biodegradable! It makes us especially proud that we managed to find a solution to encapsulate our coffee in capsules which are made using plants from organic production. The production of these capsules uses therefore less energy and resources than that of their aluminium brothers and plastic sisters.

Biodegradable Capsules

And after six months, the capsules degrade in an industrial compost. There is just one drawback: In Switzerland that doesn’t mean you can throw them in the bio-waste. We called a lot of recycling stations all over the country but got the same answer everywhere. Our capsules look like other capsules – and would therefore be picked out of the other organic waste. The best for now is to throw them into the normal household rubbish.

We are always looking to further reduce our environmental impact. So if you’ve got a great idea how to do this – please share it with us under marie@directcoffee.net.