In the kitchen the starting point for me was to identify the worst source of single use plastic. There could only be one answer:

Our Dolce Gusto coffee maker, THE maker of instant Latte Macchiato coffee, and hot chocolate, that has been the taste of the weekend for longer than I can remember. The issue is that you have to use these mixed material capsules – 1 for the milk, and 1 for the coffee, that are too fiddly to deconstruct, and I could think of no other use for them, so straight to the bin they go.

I searched long on the internet for compostable alternatives to the single use capsules. No joy. The best I achieved was to find a metal reusable capsule for the ground coffee but with not so good reviews on its performance.

So, when the last of our capsules have been consumed, off to the attic our machine will go. In its place will be restored our old cafetiere. The used coffee grounds from this will go into my garden compost bin.

Being honest, the capsules that you have to buy for one of these machines are very expensive. If I had taken that into account, I think we would have had second thoughts about buying the thing. The upside is the money we wont be spending in future on coffee capsules will make up for the extra we are spending on trying to reduce our single use plastic footprint elsewhere.

Right, time for a coffee!!