Environmental Impact for the Cappuccino Generation

Here's a dilemma. We were given a second-hand Tassimo 'hot beverage system' by some well-meaning but misguided relatives. If you're not a member of the Tassimoscenti, the idea of this beast is that you keep a selection of Tassimo capsules to hand. When you stick a capsule in the machine it reads the barcode to determine what to do with it and then Fssssh skblorp blup blup blup it processes the thing in the best way to make your chosen beverage. It's all highly flash. There are loads of different capsules available, from a Jacobs Latte Macchiato to a Suchard Hot Chocolate.

The trouble starts with the price of course, but it doesn't end there. Compared with the simple mechanics of my old cafetiere (a hybrid of two broken ones, dating back to about 1990) there's a lot to go wrong. There's a power-guzzling standby. And then, of course, there is the minor detail that the beverage components are packaged into plastic capsules (weighing as much as the ingredients themselves) and an outer box. You can recycle the plastic if you're prepared to risk your fingers cutting the damned thing in half and rinse it out, but you see what I'm getting at.

This is not a gift for an environmentalist. In any case, environmentalists are too struck dumb with carbon-guilt about having shipped the coffee in the first place to enjoy the drink. The question is, what do I do with the thing? Being second-hand there's no retailer to return it to. Do I pass it on to someone else, by whatever method, to remove the need for another one of these things to be manufactured? Or do I kill and lovingly recycle it so that there is one less of the plastic-guzzling bastards around?

Hmm, too much of a poser for this time in the afternoon. In lieu of reasoned debate, ladies and gentlemen (and Norm) I give you: sheet mulching. It's time to tame the wilderness beyond the polytunnel, permaculture-style; whack flat, newspaper, compost, straw - and in a few weeks, potatoes.