Meet Australia's Latest Certified Compostable Coffee Pod

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Here's a scary statistic: in Australia alone, three million coffee pods go into the bin daily. Over eight days, that's enough trash to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Wish your caffeine habit weren't such a messy strain on the planet? We'd like you to meet Tripod Coffee's brand new coffee capsule.

Not only biodegradable, these coffee pods are certified compostable, too. Plus, they fit into your Nespresso machine (or the like). After making yourself a brew, simply toss the pod into your green bin, and it'll break down within 90 days at a commercial composting facility — this handy diagram shows how the pod's transformation rate compares to traditional coffee pods.

"Traditional capsules are aluminium or plastic with foil lids, but ours are a compostable biopolymer, with a paper lid," says Ed Cowan, who co-founded Tripod with fellow cricket star Steve Cazzulino while in between matches. For the unacquainted, biopolymer is a macromolecule (like protein) that grows inside a living organism. It comes from the Earth, so it's happy to make its return, without leaving a trace behind. That's why Tripod's capsules are different to most others. Sure, there are plenty of other biodegradable pods around, but most of them aren't compostable. "Every compostable capsule by definition is biodegradable," says Cowan. "But not every biodegradable capsule is compostable."

The first of Tripod's coffees in the new capsules is The Green Gatsby, a 100% certified organic coffee from Papua New Guinea, and over the next few months, the brand's six other signature blends will follow suit. Find these mean green waste-fighting machines online here.

Learn more about Tripod Coffee on their website.