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Sini Tuulia

And it was a comment on a post about Starbucks being terrible, their CEO being terrible, and them doing terrible union busting! And this... This is what someone chose to write as a JUSTIFICATION to get Starbucks even though they thought they probably shouldn't?

I am... Collapsing into a black hole. Just. Fuck.

33 comments
Sini Tuulia

@BenCotterill Yup! Absolute trash! Just work from home or move for fuck's sake, random CEO man!

econads

@sinituulia @BenCotterill
I think it's one of those "because I can" status symbol things

ren 🏳️‍🌈 (a they/them)

@sinituulia I have to assume it’s because by “coffee” they don’t mean drip or basic espresso drinks that you make at home, but one of Starbuck’s special “coffee”-adjacent drinks.

Home “brewing” has turned into this nasty environmental disaster that is Keurig cups. Barf.

Ailbhe

@renwillis @sinituulia I had to Google those but they look like the coffee pods you can get in the UK -- often for Nespresso branded machines -- which are recyclable or compostable. Do I assume they use something grim to make them?

Sini Tuulia

@Ailbhe @renwillis They *could* be composted or recycled, but are not, because it would be expensive and fiddly and require much more work, and there's much more precious and time sensitive things to compost and recycle. It's just a marketing gimmick.

And I'd prefer they'd make some kind of basic cup of coffee at home, with some sweetener and blanching if they so please... And then pick up the fancy thing on their way to wherever they're actually going, instead of driving back and forth while half awake!

Sini Tuulia

@Ailbhe @renwillis There is a startling amount of people who don't even sort their trash! It all goes in the same bin. And then sometimes, the municipality puts it in the same big bin (landfill) even if you've sorted it at home, especially in the US where most of the budget goes into maintaining roads and parking lots or so I've been led to believe.
I wouldn't be surprised if the pods made in the US had something different in them as well, the regulations are terrifyingly lax sometimes.

ren 🏳️‍🌈 (a they/them)

@sinituulia @Ailbhe Yeah. Especially in the states. Barely anything is ever composted. At best, the cups are tossed in the recycling bin in the house in vain hopes that someone is recycling it down the line. Which they rarely are.

Ailbhe

@renwillis @sinituulia oh. The non-compostable ones are aluminium here and that definitely gets recycled, unlike glass. It's one of the easy ones. I suspect home composting is more common here too. I haven't bought any aluminium ones so I don't know what other packaging they come with, but my pod machine came with an emptier-and-squasher for handling them.

magsafe genitalia

@sinituulia @Ailbhe @renwillis also note that Keurig specifically tried to make coffee pods with RFID chips in them to force people to buy their extra-expensive pods, which would make them ewaste even if the rest of the pod was compostable

chico

@sinituulia
Exactly.

"Recyclable" is not the same as "recycled". It's the last of the three Rs for a reason.

It's a future promise on sustainability that we can externalize somewhere else, for convenience.

Convenience is what makes people use drive-throughs.

@Ailbhe @renwillis

econads

@Ailbhe
If someone tells you something plastic is compostable, read "turns onto microplastics and forever chemicals". Biodegradable is also measured in the lab under specific conditions and temperatures, not the variable ones you find in the ground.
@renwillis @sinituulia

Ailbhe

@econads @renwillis @sinituulia (my coffee pods vanish in my compost bin quite quickly, especially if someone stirs it occasionally)

econads

@Ailbhe
Well the thing about microplastics is they're not visable with the human eye. I can't speak to the coffee pods actually, but I'm basing this on some digging I did after a debate with family about "biodegradable" plastic bags. Basically all the research that I could find was done by the plastics companies or industry bodies, and it was all "in the lab under x-y deg C, certain pH etc. I'd be interested to see some real independent research.
@renwillis @sinituulia

Ailbhe

@econads @renwillis @sinituulia "biodegradable plastics" and "bioplastics" aren't the same thing, the plastic bags that were a big deal in the UK 20 years ago were made of quite different materials from the compostable things now. If you put anything in a "biodegradable" bag in the attic, it's surrounded by a pile of tiny fragile flakes now. And if anything compost heaps preserve them.

chico

@econads
Also, compostable plastics add carbon to the carbon cycle, which means a part of that will be carbon dioxide.

So if the precursors of that material are fossil in nature, we get more emissions.
@Ailbhe @renwillis @sinituulia

Dave Mc

@renwillis @sinituulia I wonder how a coffee capsule compares to driving a few miles in terms of environmental impact?

Martijn Vos

@guigsy @renwillis @sinituulia

It's not just driving a few miles, it's also still getting coffee there, presumably in a disposable cup. I think anything at home is better, even if it's capsule.

suzi_1960

@renwillis @sinituulia i have a ‘koffiemaatje’ it makes me a lungo at work. I drink decaf, at my work i can t have decaf from ten coffeemachine , now i have my own brewery.. it works well.

ink and yarn

@sinituulia Can I sit with you in the judgey chairs? Because I am judging, too.

I don't have to put on real clothes to get my coffee either, because my coffee comes from my kitchen. I bought a nice coffeemaker with a timer function. I set up the coffee in the evening, when I'm awake and functional... and when I get up in the morning, there it is! freshly brewed coffee.

ajft

@emery @sinituulia I too can make coffee in the nude, however, i prefer to dress first lest I spill hot beverage upon parts of me not equipped to handle it

the implement of choice is one of Bialetti's finest, a birthday gift from an ex. sometime last century

flic.kr/p/2q7v2yv

But driving, merely to get coffee, inconceivable

Sini Tuulia

@emery That is the life. I've been thinking about getting a coffee maker with a timer, but wouldn't really have a place to put it, so I live with tolerable and exceptionally easy organic instant coffee. It's not the best taste, but it's alright. If I want to make actual coffee, there's always the French press, but it's annoying to clean so I usually don't...

Have you seen the ridiculous (in a good way) James Hoffman video about the bougie coffee maker marketed to do that exact same thing, but with a +200€ extra price tag for the bougieness? I love the video!

@emery That is the life. I've been thinking about getting a coffee maker with a timer, but wouldn't really have a place to put it, so I live with tolerable and exceptionally easy organic instant coffee. It's not the best taste, but it's alright. If I want to make actual coffee, there's always the French press, but it's annoying to clean so I usually don't...

ink and yarn

@sinituulia I haven't seen that video - it sounds amusing!

Before I had a real coffeepot and/or a need for more than one cup of coffee at a time, I used a re-usable steeping thingie. It takes up next to no space and makes perfect single cups (once you figure out exactly how much coffee to put in and how long to let it steep for your taste). Bonus: it also works for tea.

It is this thing - primulaproducts.com/products/c

Sini Tuulia

@emery Ah yes, a fine small sieve. 😄 I feel like a lot of marketing budget has gone onto making this slightly more convenient and slightly better result product sell for a lot more than, you know. A small steel sieve that you buy once, and if you don't let it rust, lasts for some 30 years!

The video, though: youtube.com/watch?v=UALN1ZoN6b

ink and yarn

@sinituulia But the steel one doesn't fold flat! and it is less fine than the mesh bag, so harder to wash. (And I bought it for less than $5, so... there's that, too.)

Hm, maybe I need a fancy bedside coffeemaker alarm clock! :)

Mx Amber Alex

@sinituulia what concerns me is: if they're not awake enough to make the morning coffee that awakens them, then they're probably not awake enough to operate half a ton of metal at 50 km/h.

Gavin

@sinituulia I continue to be freaked out how accurate Wall-E's prediction of the future was.

Evan

@sinituulia No, judge away. That’s a terrible mindset to have around either driving safely, or consumer ethics.

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