It’s a press, but you can use it either conventionally or as I prefer, inverted. The cleanup is far easier than a French press because when done all you have to do is press the puck out into a bucket and you’re done. You can get a wire filter to eliminate the paper disc, but frankly you’re not getting any significant crema on this device regardless, you can probably generate one bar at most, so it’s not espresso. There are aftermarket gadgets that purport to allow you to generate more pressure, but they really seem like things cobbled together.
I’m sure it’s what you meant, but just for other readers’ sake, they are compostable in industrial composting facilities. My city has such a facility, so I can put them in the compost curbside bin.