Your New Dirty Habit

Our pods are compostable. Shell, lid & coffee will return to Earth! Compost them along with your banana peels and save waste from landfill. Choose a solution below to learn how you can dispose of your pods responsibly. Shift your coffee, habits & culture with us — 4WKS at a time!

Return my pods Compost at home Find a collection service

1. Coffee!
2. Bio-Shell
3. Veg Paper
4. Edible Ink

Our 4WKS pod is made from 100% home compostable materials. Your pouch, pods & coffee can all be composted together!

Your Compostable Pouch

Our bulk pods (30) are sold in a 100% compostable pouch. The pouch has 2 functions: to refill your jar with fresh pods and to encourage you to return your pods to Earth, not landfill. Our compact pods (10) come in a Kraft box. Please recycle this and compost your pods at home or save them in a container to be returned to one of our drop-off points.

4WKS Pods Return To Earth

We’ve partnered with Ywaste so you can return your used pods to different collection points around Cape Town. We’ll send them to Ywaste's commercial composting farm in Philippi to breakdown extra quickly into nutritious soil.

We realise that not everyone has access to this network. Send us an email or DM and we’ll point you in the direction of other composting services beyond CPT.

Wherever you are, we encourage you to take responsibility for where your used pods end up. The Western Cape Government aims to reduce 100% of food waste going into landfill by 2027. Together we can get there. Every pod counts! ☕️

Composting 4WKS At Home

Our pods are certified home-compostable by OK Compost Home. Each home composting environment is unique, from worm farms to bokashi bins. The time your pods take to decompose will fluctuate depending on your method. Don’t worry, our pods will break down into soil. A little patience goes a long way 😉

Here are our top tips to ensure your pods (pouch and all) will be food for the worms in no time!

- Our pods break down faster in hot composting environments.

- Your compost heap should be at least half a cubic metre.

- Throw your used pods in the middle of the heap (this is where it gets the hottest).

- Water your heap well.

- Turn your compost often to introduce fresh oxygen.

- Don’t panic if the coffee and veggie lid decompose quicker than the shell.

- Let Nature do her thing. In roughly 3 months, your pods will become nutritious compost.

Collection Services Near You

We’re working hard to expand our drop-off network all over SA. For now, #4WKSReturnsToEarth is limited to Cape Town (and those who compost their pods at home, of course!).

Beyond returning your used pods to any of our partner cafés, SA has some excellent food waste collection companies that play a vital role in ensuring our organic waste doesn’t end up in landfill. If you’re interested in having all of your waste composted, check them out:

CPT

📍 Ywaste

📍 Gooi

For those beyond Cape Town, there are amazing compost collection services for you, too ⬇️ Pop them an email or message to find out more about how they can help you ensure your food waste ( pods included) ends up back where it belongs.

JHB

📍 The Compost Kitchen

Areas they service:

Dainfern
Fourways
Lonehill
Bryanston
Morningside
Waterfall

And everywhere in-between, pop them a message to request the service in your area.

📍 Whole Earth

Message them to find out if they service your area.

📍 Earth Probiotic

Areas they service:

Riverclub
Parkmore
Sunninghill
Fairlands
Killarney/Riviera
Parkhurst/Parkview
Parktown
Boskruin
Floracliffe
Randpark Ridge
Linksfield
Lonehill
Sandton
Honeydew/Northriding
Constantia Kloof
Midrand
Fourways
Northcliff
Cresta

DBN

📍 Bokashi Bran

They service a small number of clients in KZN. Send them an email to check if your area fits in with their collection route.

Thank you for shifting with us!