Let me just say, I know I'm sort of beating a dead horse with this one, but one thing that particularly just drives me up a wall is pod coffee. These things drive me CRAZY. Pod coffee is the definition of single use, and they just take it way too far. The coffee out of them isn't even good! *Deep Breath* I don't want to rant, but believe me I could, I really could.
But instead of raving on about pod coffee I'd rather write about a city that decided it was just so completely illogical to use them that they banned buying them with tax-payer money for use in government-run buildings.
In 2016 the city was on a mission to reduce waste and energy consumption throughout their government functions, and made the very logical determination that the pods were a great waste. As an explanation for the ban, their Department for the Environment and Energy argued that coffee pods create "unnecessary resource consumption and waste generation," and "often contain polluting aluminum."
Spokesman for Hamburg's Department of the Environment and Energy, Jan Dube, explained that the city just couldn't justify buying "6 grams of coffee wrapped in 3 grams of packaging" with taxpayer money, which just made me smile.
But Hamburg didn't stop there! As a part of the same effort, they also now prohibit taxpayers' money from being spent on other single-use/non-eco friendly items like non-refillable plastic bottles, plastic cutlery, plates, and cups, chlorine-based cleaning products, and air fresheners. Hamburg is aiming to cut down on all packaging waste, whether or not it's recyclable.
So here's to you Hamburg, for committing to zero waste goals within your government over two years ago, and for giving this zero waster a reason to smile!
