Recycle Used Coffee Capsules, Second Life Your Used Capsules

Nespresso capsules are made from aluminium – the best material to protect the freshness and quality of our Grand Crus, which has the additional benefit of being infinitely recyclable. Nespresso has been investing in its dedicated recycling scheme for more than 25 years. We are committed to making it as simple and convenient for our customers to recycle their Nespresso capsules.

Nespresso has its own dedicated recycling scheme, offering a range of options to make it simple and convenient for customers to recycle their used capsules. We have more than 100,000 collection points around the world, convenient courier and postal services, and Recycle@home initiatives in 18 countries. Our ambition is to have our aluminium capsules included in established collective recycling schemes, and we are working with governments and local authorities to achieve this.

Our recycled capsules go back into the aluminium value chain, where they are recycled into a range of uses – such as car engines, bicycles, computers, soda cans, or even new capsules. We also re-use the coffee grounds to create nutrient-rich compost or green energy.

We use aluminium because it is the best material to protect the freshness, taste and quality of Nespresso Grands Crus. Aluminium is a naturally-occurring metal and is infinitely recyclable. Thanks to the aluminium, there is no need for additional over-packaging to protect freshness and taste. Recycled aluminium is extremely versatile. An estimated 75% of all aluminium ever produced is still in use today. Aluminium is used in a wide range of products, from food packaging to cars and computers, window frames to bicycles.

1. Through the dedicated Nespresso scheme, used capsules are sent to our recycling facility
2. They are shredded to separate the coffee grounds from the aluminium capsule
3. The coffee grounds are transformed into green energy or nutrient-rich compost
4. The empty capsules are heated to melt off the plastic coating and other materials
5. Once only pure aluminium remains, this is melted and recycled

Nespresso capsules require a special grade of aluminium. The availability of recycled aluminium in this specific grade is very low. In fact, the best source of the correct grade of aluminium is from recycled Nespresso capsules. We are using recycled Nespresso capsules to make new capsules wherever it is feasible and it makes sense environmentally.

Plastic capsules generally need more packaging such as an additional wrapper to preserve freshness. Ironically, this is often made of aluminium. We believe aluminium is the more sustainable material for our capsules as it reduces the need for extra packaging and protects the freshness and quality of our coffee - and it is infinitely recyclable.

We believe that portioned coffee makes sense from a sustainability perspective. We use a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to measure the carbon footprint of our products. We are working at all stages of our product life-cycle – from seed to sip – to reduce our environment impact. Since 2009, we have already reduced the carbon footprint of every cup of Nespresso by almost 20%.

We use a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to measure the environmental impact of our products. It shows that the greatest impacts are the processes of coffee farming, followed by the machine-use phase. Packaging is not the main driver of the environmental impact, it only comes third. With the Nespresso precision consumption system, our customers only use the exact amount of water, coffee and energy needed to make one cup with no wasted resources - minimizing food, water and energy waste. The precise use of resources in a precision consumption system can actually reduce waste, and in many scenarios this more than compensates for the additional packaging used for portioned coffee.

Nespresso professional capsules can be recycled just like our at-home capsules can be. The collection and recycling of capsules is discussed on a case by case basis with our professional customers and we have set up many personalised services across the countries we work in to make sure they can also recycle.