Woken Coffee

According to one estimate, 29,000 espresso pods end up in landfill every minute. That’s valuable aluminium wasted, and heaps of plastic that will stick around for hundreds of years. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Woken Coffee states a simple truth on their website: “Your espresso pods shouldn’t outlive you.” Woken produces espresso pods that are 100% biodegradable. With Woken you can enjoy your coffee guilt-free, and then turn the entire pod back into soil through composting. And now, with their partnership with Verdn, Woken is not only zero waste — they’re anti-waste.

Every sale of the Woken Mix directly finances the cleanup of 80 bottles’ worth of ocean-bound plastic. That’s 1 kilo (2.2 lbs), or over 3x the weight of the 60 coffee pods.

The cleanup takes place along polluted rivers and shorelines in both Africa and Asia. The work is carried out by Empower AS in collaboration with local partner organizations. The cleanup is facilitated and tracked by Verdn, which in turn allows Woken customers to see when and where plastic was collected on their behalf.

Ocean plastic is a huge problem. Every year over 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans, and it’s expected that ocean plastic might outweigh all fish by 2050. Furthermore, only 10% of all plastic is ever recycled.

And the benefits don’t stop there. All plastic cleanup is carried out by local workers, living in underprivileged communities. By putting a value on the plastic, the waste pickers are given an opportunity to multiply their normal income, which translates into better health, better education for their children, and security.