Coffee pods may look small and harmless, but they are made from layers of plastic and aluminium that are tightly fused together. This makes them difficult — often impossible — to recycle through normal systems. Even brands that offer “recycling programs” rely on consumers to mail them back, and the reality is that most pods end up in landfill.
In landfill, the aluminium and plastic don’t simply vanish. They can remain for centuries, breaking down into microplastics and leaching chemicals into soil and water. All this from something that delivers just one shot of coffee.
This could mean every morning espresso leaves behind a trail of waste that lasts far longer than your caffeine buzz (by a multiple of centuries). Is that really worth it, when you could brew with reusable, waste-free alternatives instead?

Many teabags aren’t just paper — they’re made from bleached pulp reinforced with a plastic mesh or spray. Modern manufacturing relies on this because machines are designed to work with plastic-coated fibers. If your teabag has no stitches and instead looks pressed flat at the edges, it’s likely heat-sealed — the polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP) in the paper mesh melts to form the seal.
Now, drop that into boiling water and there’s a good chance you’re drinking microplastics. Not great for your health, and not great for the planet.
These plastic-based teabags don’t break down in compost or landfill. They can linger for centuries, eventually fragmenting into microplastics that pollute soil and water.
This could mean that every “convenient” cup of tea is leaving behind waste that could outlive your children. Is that really worth it — when loose leaf tea avoids the plastic altogether?

Takeaway coffee cups almost always have a thin plastic lining (either plant-based PLA or petroleum-based PE) to stop the paper from turning to mush. The only real difference between so-called “eco-friendly” cups and standard ones is the type of plastic used — but it’s still plastic.
PLA is often marketed as compostable or biodegradable, but if you read the fine print it refers to industrial composting conditions, not landfill or home compost. Since most cups end up in landfill, they stay largely intact for centuries because oxygen, heat, and light are absent.
Even if they do eventually break down, both PLA and PE simply fragment into microplastics. This could mean that regardless of which cup you choose, it could be polluting the environment for longer than you are on this beautiful planet.
That’s the uncomfortable truth: whatever the label says, disposable cups aren’t going away any time soon.

Fact: A single plastic teabag can release 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into your drink (McGill University, 2019).
A 2022 study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that single-use beverage cups can release trillions of nanoparticles into hot liquids. Similarly, research from 2024 conducted by the Autonomous University of Barcelona revealed that certain tea bags and disposable cups can release millions to billions of microplastic particles into your tea or coffee. [Sources: NIST, 2022; Autonomous University of Barcelona, 2024]