No coffee capsule left behind
Some single-serve coffee capsules are made with the best material possible to protect the coffee inside against oxygen, light and humidity. But every day a large number of these aluminium capsules are thrown away after consumption, creating a lot of garbage.
To save the environment, Nespresso this month launched its first programme to recycle its used aluminium capsules in Thailand. Nespresso Club members and Thai coffee lovers will now be able to easily return their used Nespresso capsules for recycling at designated collection points: the Nespresso Boutique at Siam Paragon or Nespresso coffeemachine sale counters at Central Chidlom and HomePro Ramintra.
First, Nespresso consumers can get a recycling bag at no cost from the Nespresso boutique on the ground floor of Siam Paragon. Each recycling bag can hold up to 80 used capsules. Then consumers can drop the full bag at the aforementioned collection points. Once collected, the capsules will be recycled by Wongpanit Recycling Centre, a fully-integrated waste-recycling company.
For recycling process, it starts with the separation of aluminium from coffee grounds as all components of the Nespresso capsule are recyclable for not only the aluminium but also the coffee grounds. Aluminium is produced from bauxite, a natural element in the ground, and can be recycled infinitely without losing any of its qualities. So aluminium and coffee grounds are separated before being processed. After separation, coffee grounds will be used as a natural fertiliser for agriculture while aluminium is simply remelted. This process, which requires very little energy, results in no loss of weight or quality, and can be repeated infinitely.
Nespresso introduced its first recycling initiative in Switzerland in 1991. Since then, the company has established its own capsule collection systems in 36 countries worldwide. According to figures provided by the company, at the end of 2015 Nespresso had put in place the capacity to recycle over 86% of all capsules sold, and now aims to increase its global capsule collection to 100% in 2020.