Grounds for Good: How Dualits's Recycling Device Brews Sustainability

Whether you're a fan of Nespresso or not (the coffee can be quite nice), the pods are a pain to recycle. They either have to be taken to a Nespresso shop or getting Nespresso to pick them up in a Nespresso (or coffee shop) recycling bag.

Now there's another solution get a Dualit Nespresso Unfill recycling device. It's all plastic with a base.

Dualit Until base

Then there's a green bit that sits on the base and fits semi-screws on to it (or positions itself via a slotted bit). It's ribbed/strengthen underneath.

Dualit Unfill rim (from below)

Looking from above, there's an inner ring where the pod sits on (foil side down).

Dualit Unfill rim (from above)

The lid has an inner protrusion which matches the base of the pod.

Dualit Unfill lid

When put together the green rim sits on the base, then the pod is sat on the rim with the narrower part facing up. The lid is then pushed down firmly and keeping it as straight as possible.

The pod will then be inverted and all the coffee (well most of it) will end up in the the base (some does stick to the remains of the pod). The base holds 7 or 8 pods.

Rinse the pods off and then they can go in household recycling (if there's a few, then wrap them in aluminium foil and they'll be detected as aluminium recycling more accurately, they can be pushed into each other for a compact result).

The coffee grounds can then be recycled in food waste, composted or used to add to soil (allegedly slugs don't like caffeine) and there's goodness in the grounds too that plants can use too.

It's available for £9.99 direct from Dualit or many good retailers.

Ring your bell, ring your Oi

Another day, another Kickstarter project. This time it's a bicycle bell made by Australian firm Knog who seems to make a variety of bike accessories (lights, locks, computers, toolsets) and now bells.

The Oi bell is different from other bells, it's circular and fits around the handlebars (it's easier just to look at the picture).

The bell materials available are aluminium, brass, copper, and black (though only copper and brass seem to be available at the moment) and it was also available in Titanium via Kickstarter.

It comes in two sizes, small and large - fitting 22.2mm and 23.8 to 31.8mm handlebars respectively.

The chime is quite pleasant and the design is definitely different.

It's available to buy on-line for €19.99 through the Knog site

New MacBooks

Apple has released a new 13" MacBook and new 15" MacBook Pros. They are all hewn from solid aluminium and use a mini-displayport connection for connection to an external monitor.

They look very pretty.

Apple's also released a new 24" Displayport monitor to go with them (though not available yet).

The Macbook has USB interfaces, while the Pro has USB/Firewire and an ExpressCard/34 slot. Both have DL-DVD writers.