Nespresso, Nestlé and Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) have formed the Alliance for the Recycling of Aluminium Capsules, with the intention of recycling all aluminium coffee capsules in France.
“It is our aim to ensure that all aluminium capsules in France are recycled. Given that aluminium is 100 per cent recyclable, it is our responsibility as a company to establish a system to ensure it is recycled effectively,” says Arnaud Deschamps, Managing Director of Nespresso in France.
In March 2019, Nespresso launched an invitation to other portioned coffee manufacturers to join its recycling program, paving the way for a global recycling scheme for aluminium coffee capsules.
Nespresso and JDE are now launching an appeal to other players in the market to extend the recycling scheme initially launched by Nespresso 10 years ago, to ensure all aluminium coffee capsules are recycled.
“In a context of ecological emergency, we, as major agribusiness companies, have the responsibility to take action in order to reduce the impact our packaging has on the environment,” says Juan Amat, Managing Director of JDE in France.
“We firmly believe that, through this collective effort, we will be able to identify tailored solutions to meet these challenges and deploy them effectively in France. I would like to call on aluminium capsules manufacturers to join our movement and to work with us towards a circular economy.”
Aluminium is recyclable, however in the majority of countries, public recycling infrastructure is not capable of recycling small, lightweight packaging such as aluminium coffee capsules.
With this in mind, in 2008, Nespresso France introduced a range of initiatives aimed at effectively recycling its used capsules. The company began by setting up collection points at its boutiques, delivery points, recycling centres, and within client companies, hotels, and restaurants.
In order to make the recycling process easier, Nespresso France also worked with Citeo to install Foucault current separators in all French recycling centres, machines capable of separating aluminium packaging from other types of packaging.
Nespresso says this means that 90 per cent of Nespresso customers now have access to a recycling solution close to their home, and that 25 per cent of French people can recycle their capsules and any other small items of aluminium packaging, by placing their used Nespresso capsules directly in the recycling bin. The target is to extend this to 50 per cent of French people between now and 2022.
“After 10 years of working on this and the setting up of an effective public-private partnership making it possible to recycle all small aluminium packages in France, the so-called ‘Metal Project’, I am delighted to be able to set up this Alliance for the Recycling of Aluminium Capsules with JDE, and to extend the invitation to all other aluminium capsules manufacturers to join us,” Deschamps says.
“The deployment of this unique recycling system, which has already been shown to be effective, will be key in successfully transitioning towards a circular economy.”
