Inventor solves coffee pod trash issues

Posted on: 2015-04-13 12:00 AM

An inventor has solved the problem of the millions of coffee capsules that are thrown away each year after use - with sugar-coated pods that dissolve in water.

The soaring popularity of home coffee machines has led to a increasing amount of waste generated by caffeine lovers.

Now, designer Eason Chow believes his innovative new product could be the solution - and found inspiration from the sugar-coated sweets dispensed from gumball machines.

It involves covering coffee granules in milk powder then dipping the whole lot in sugar to create a revolutionary capsule with no waste created whatsoever.

Mr Chow says the sugar coating will come in varying thickness and flavourings to suit all tastes - and he has also made a stackable coffee maker to use the capsules with.

He came up with the idea after realising how much waste packaging is generated from coffee capsules each year.

The product, called Droops, is still in the early stages, but Mr Chow says the coffee pods will cost around £4 for a pack of 20 and the machine will cost around £80.

The 25-year-old, from Singapore, said: 'Droops Coffee Maker redefines the experience of processing coffee in conventional coffee makers.

'The inspiration for the project came from the observation of how much unnecessary waste of packaging is made from coffee machines which use capsules.

'This led to me thinking of how can the process be redefined and be fun.'

He explained he drew 'memories to my childhood' and 'the surprising and fun element of dispensing sweets from a gumball machine'.

'Therefore, I decided to adapt this element of surprise and fun into the design and even personalising the coffee pods with different possibilities to heighten the desire of tasting different coffee types.'

He added that most coffee machines on the market are very industrialised and made to process coffee out of convenience.

'They neglect the importance of the visualising and the social responsibility through its usage,' he said.

'Droops coffee maker aims to be a benchmark that identifies and exemplifies the importance of these elements to fun coffee drinking.'

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