That was a factor with switching to beans to cup for me. There is a lot of waste with pods. Even with recycling (which isn't a given), packaging costs in terms of energy per gram of coffee must be pretty mad. I suppose the payoff (for the consumer) is meant to be convenience and a lower initial outlay, but personally the beans to cup is just as good in terms of convenience and the initial outlay is fairly quickly offset by the lower per cup costs.
If anyone is interested the VertuoPlus machine is being sold on offer at Nespresso. Comes with sample coffee, free delivery and 100 extra coffee pods for £79.
The environmental waste does chafe a bit. Tassimo is terrible for it. There is allegedly an official recycling scheme but can I find a drop off point within 50 miles? Can I buggery.
