Nespresso, the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and Sims Municipal Recycling (SMR) announced that Nespresso has made a $1.2 million commitment to better enable the recovery of its aluminum coffee capsules through New York City’s curbside recycling program.
In addition to capsules, the commitment will allow SMR to better sort and capture lightweight aluminum, including foil and other mixed metals. This collaboration makes it possible for these items to be turned into new products.
“Nespresso is deeply committed to the circular use of our products, choosing aluminum packaging because it both protects the quality of our exceptional coffees and can be recycled and reused again and again,” said Guillaume Le Cunff, president and chief executive officer of Nespresso USA.
Nespresso has a continuous focus on developing innovative solutions to make recycling as simple and convenient as possible for consumers. Nespresso offers pre-paid UPS recycling bags in 48 states across the U.S. so that consumers can mail back capsules to be recycled.
The collaboration with DSNY and SMR will drive the Nespresso recycling efforts further and provide consumers with additional options. The funding from Nespresso will assist SMR in investing in the additional technology that is required to improve the efficiency of its non-magnetic household metals recycling process, and help to reduce the amount of aluminum that ends up in landfill.
The equipment will be operational starting fall 2019, and residents across the five boroughs in New York City will be encouraged to recycle their Nespresso capsules as part of their regular recycling routine.
The collaboration will support New York City’s Zero Waste initiative, which aims to contribute zero waste to landfill by 2030. A key component of the partnership will be to encourage New York City residents to recycle Nespresso capsules as well as the 43,000 tons of aluminum foil and other mixed metals that currently end up in landfill each year.
The Nespresso recycling program with UPS will continue to be available across the U.S. Consumers can bring recycling bags to one of 88,000 UPS drop-off locations or 500 collection points at Nespresso Boutiques and select retailers across the country.
Once capsules are collected, they are sent to recycling businesses that work closely with Nespresso, who separate the aluminum from the coffee grounds to give them a second life. The coffee grounds can be turned into nutrient-rich compost and topsoil. The aluminum is processed and, ultimately, reused to create new products.
Published in the April 2019 Edition
