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A few days ago I could see on the News how Nespresso capsules were contributing to pollution (collecting in land fills, becoming litter, and so forth). If I am honest I have to say I had not seen the problem before then. Now I have bought refillable Nespresso capsules. However, I still have many capsules at home and I would like ideas on how to reuse them a few times before I discard them or recycle the material.

I have also a problem. If I refill I would be cheating nesspreso and I don't feel comfortable doing that. On the other hand "Former Nespresso boss warns coffee pods are killing environment"

jalazbe
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    I hate this common practise of selling license_to_use instead of products. In that case Nestle tries to sell you a license for making a coffe in that way that it forces you to buy new nespresso pod any time you want to drink a coffe. You don't lease nespresso machine. You own it and you can decide what to do with it. If you want to use it buying only new nespresso capsules it's your choice, but if you want to use refilled capsules there is neither law nor morall issue that could prevent you from it. Remember, you bought a coffe machine and you can decide what to do with it. – running.t Aug 24 '17 at 11:51
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    So it's not cheating, It's using your property in your own way. – running.t Aug 24 '17 at 11:55
  • In the USA, I think I recall a court case (related to printer ink, but almost certainly applicable to coffee pods) that barred manufacturers from acting against users who chose to provide their own supplies, either by reusing original containers or by making their own containers (or buying reproductions). This almost certainly doesn't apply in Europe, however; there'd be a separate court and case there. – Zeiss Ikon Aug 24 '17 at 12:23
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    I suggest to change the title from "recycle" to "reuse" or "refill". because nespresso has recycling services in place in some countries (France, Italy, Switzerland,…) or contracted with public recycling services that they recycle capsules (in Germany they go into the gelber sack – pseyfert Aug 25 '17 at 09:27
  • You're paying about 5 times the cost of brew-it-yourself coffee. Is the convenience of pods really worth it? – Ray Butterworth Mar 23 '23 at 14:59

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Well, actually you can refill also these standard, "non-refillable" Nespresso capsules. Just remove riddled top, empty capsule, clear it, refill capsule with some standard coffe, replace top with new one made from silver foil.

And here is a short movie that shows the full process.

running.t
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    Seems like a lot of effort to save the planet. Can't you just thread them onto a piece of string and make yourself a nice necklass? – vikingsteve Aug 25 '17 at 10:58
  • @vikingsteve: cool idea, but suppose you drink 2 coffees a day. It makes about 700 pods a year. Let's say we put one coffee pod every 2 centimeters of necklace . This way you would produce about 1400cm which is 14m of necklace every year. Pretty huge piece of jewellery.... – running.t Aug 25 '17 at 11:05
  • Only 2 per day? Honestly, I expected better. OT: switch to ground coffee and a proper espresso machine (recommend Italian made brands, like Ascaso). – vikingsteve Aug 25 '17 at 13:04
  • That movie about refilling is slightly more entertaining: Fancy pants coffee shooter hack. – Tony Aug 31 '17 at 11:15
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Many people empty and refill nespresso capsules. The problem is that it is complicated, long and messy. With this smart little tool, reloading is simplified and very fast : https://youtu.be/eatf-qIv-dw enter image description here

user26879
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    This looks suspiciously like advertising. Are you connected with this product? If you have used it, please say how hard it was to use, whether it worked, how long it lasted... – RedSonja Feb 18 '19 at 14:32