Tripod Coffee's Dirt Club Collects Your Used Coffee Pods and Turns Them Into Compost

The eco-friendly service is now offering to pick up your pods from your front door — for zero dollars.
Nik Addams
April 08, 2021

in partnership with

Not so fun fact: aluminium coffee pods can take up to 500 years to break down. And while we love the convenience of a Nespresso as much as the next time-poor caffeine fiend, there's no denying that this is a pretty grim downside for the sake of saving a few minutes in the morning.

Thankfully, though, Tripod Coffee have come up with a solution. Not only are its plant-based Nespresso pods fully compostable, but now the Sydney-based brand is making it easier for you to get rid of your used capsules in an environmentally responsible way.

Enter The Dirt Club. This new service sees a Tripodder come straight to your door to collect any and all used coffee pods — be they paper, plastic or aluminium. Then, the pods get disposed of correctly and, where possible, turned into fertiliser.

"We wanted to make composting coffee pods easier than ordering Deliveroo," says Tripod Coffee Co-founder, Partner and Head of Sustainability Dave Siegel.

How does it work? The composting process creates two byproducts: nutrient-rich, organic fertiliser and methane. The fertiliser is used by local farmers, growers and horticulturalists, while the methane is converted into green electricity. The Dirt Club is still in its early days, but, according to Tripod, its future-friendly composting initiative has already diverted over two tonnes of pods from landfill.

The best part is that it doesn't cost a cent. Well, pickup costs $15, but once that part is done, you get $15 credit to spend on Tripod Coffee products. Currently, there are seven coffee varieties to choose from, from a light roast to extra dark, single origin, decaf and a blend wholly made from organic and fair trade beans.

Somewhere, surely, George Clooney is smiling.

Published on April 08, 2021 by Nik Addams
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