The positive trend toward collection and recycling of Nespresso aluminium coffee capsules continues in Italy, 15% higher than last year in the first nine months of 2015.
The recent figures were presented during the convention entitled “Toward a zero waste food chain: enabling technologies – KET – for a sustainable food industry and waste management in a circular economy” held today at Ecomondo.
The project, which has been under way in Italy since 2011 under an agreement signed by Nespresso, CIAL (Italy’s aluminium recycling association), Federambiente and CIC (the Italian composters’ association) and renewed last year, is currently active in 27 cities all over Italy as part of Nespresso’s The Positive Cup sustainability programme, which sets ambitious goals for coffee procurement and social welfare, use and recycling of aluminium and resistance to climate change.
In the first nine months of 2015, Italian citizens took 306 tonnes (+15% more than in the first nine months of 2014) of used coffee capsules to the collection points set up in Nespresso boutiques and sent for recycling with the assistance of CIAL, Italy’s national association for the collection and recycling of aluminium packaging.
Citizens returned a total of about 1163 tonnes of used capsules for recycling in the first four years of the project (November 2011 – November 2015).
Italy now has 35 Nespresso boutiques, each with its own collection point, plus 38 ecological centres where citizens can take their used capsules directly. The participating Italian cities are Turin, Genoa, Milan, Assago, Monza, Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Varese, Padua, Verona, Bovolone, Vicenza, Treviso, Bolzano, Trento, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Bologna, Modena, Parma, Florence, Rome, Naples, Bari, Udine, and Catania.
This vast network offers Nespresso customers an opportunity to participate in a major environmental protection project ensuring recovery of important resources which would otherwise be send to landfills. Aluminium, the material capsules are made from, can be 100% recycled an infinite number of times, saving up to 95% on energy and materials.
Coffee residues are composted to grow rice which Nespresso donates to the food bank.
In each of the 27 cities involved in the project, capsules returned by customers are handled by the city or by a company providing urban waste management services on contract. CiAL then takes the aluminium to the foundry for recycling, while the coffee residues are composted by Nespresso itself under an agreement with CIC.
Nespresso Italia General Manager Fabio Degli Esposti notes: “The project represents a model of cooperation that is the only one of its kind in Italy, limiting the environmental impact of capsule coffee consumption and promoting aluminium recycling in the country. It is part of Nespresso’s long term strategy of setting ambitious quotas for the years leading up to 2020 under the Positive Cup programme. The goal is to make the entire Nespresso value chain sustainable, from cultivation of raw materials to post-consumption product management, in a circular economy.”
“The project for collection and recycling of Nespresso coffee capsules has been under way in Italy for 4 years and is producing excellent results. CIAL has been overseeing the initiative right from the start, and we are happy to have contributed to its success. The programme expands our partnership for separate collection and recycling of aluminium, a great responsibility capable of generating growing benefits for the environment, society and the economy,” adds CIAL General Manager Gino Schiona.
To find out more about Nespresso collection points, go to: