The German city of Hamburg has banned individual coffee capsules from council buildings as part of its guide to green procurement.
The BBC reports that in January the German city introduced a ban on buying "certain polluting products or product components" with council money. The ban includes specific terms for "equipment for hot drinks in which portion packaging is used," says the BBC.
Jan Dube spokesman of the Hamburg Department of the Environment and Energy told the BBC that: “The capsules can't be recycled easily because they are often made of a mixture of plastic and aluminium.”
Hamburg's 150 page guide to green procurement also stops council money from being spent on mineral water in disposable bottles and on disposable dishes.
It states that 50% of cars in the fleet used by Hamburg's core administration must be electric-run by 2020.