Compostable coffee capsules

Coffee at the touch of a button is convenient. However, the trend to use coffee capsules leads to growing waste piles. This is where ecovio®, BASF’s certified compostable biobased plastic, is set to provide relief. It is now being mass produced for the first time in a system specially developed for use with coffee packaging, which is mainly based on renewable resources. In this system designed by BASF researchers and developers in cooperation with the Swiss Coffee Company, both the coffee capsules themselves as well as the aromapreserving outer packaging are biodegradable. These are the first coffee capsules in the world to carry the seedling label, a quality mark indicating that a product’s compostability has been demonstrated to be in line with EU certification requirements. Specifically, it means the used portion-size container has to biodegrade within twelve weeks. Trials under real conditions showed that biodegradation in fact took place within four weeks.