I have had a Tassimo Coffee maker for five years now and I love the coffee it makes and the convenience. I don’t like the cost or the waste involved in using it. I saved the used pods for a month and they filled a small grocery bag. The waste is appalling.
While others see a problem I see a business opportunity. People who buy Tassimo or Kuerig machines are well off and for the most part socially aware. Design a $100 pod recycler. It would rinse the coffee grounds out of the pod and separate the foil from the plastic. All this would be done in a nice clean easy to use way.
Target market is Prius drivers. Ideally the machine would compact the grounds for composting and allow easy recycling of the plastic and foil. An even better solution would be a Kuerig type machine that has the convenience of the pod based machines with no plastic or foil. Maybe just a soluble membrane to contain the coffee.