Nespresso Second Life –
Recycling to Create Amazing Products
The New Year brings with it new resolutions and fresh ideas. With the beginning of 2020 we’re entering not just a new year, but a new decade. It’s a great time to put in place some sustainable resolutions.
One of my top resolutions this year, is to use less plastic, to use refillable bottles instead of buying PET bottles, AND to recycle even more than I currently do. One thing I always recycle, are my Nespresso coffee capsules and Nespresso have made it so easy with three different options.
In Switzerland you can either simply leave your bag of used Nespresso capsules in your mailbox to be collected by the postman, or you can deposit them at one of the 2,700 community recycling centres, or you can take them to your local Nespresso boutique.
You might have seen my trip to Nespresso’s recycling plant in Moudon in the French speaking part of Switzerland, where I found the work going on much more involved than I had imagined and very impressive indeed. The contents of the capsules are separated, the aluminium is cleaned and then the coffee grounds are converted into renewable energies and natural fertilisers, and the aluminium is smelted down and processed into new products.
At the plant we saw the huge blocks of compressed aluminium waiting to be reused in their “second life”. So what, you may ask, becomes of all this used aluminium once we’ve had our coffee?
Through the company’s Second Life initiative and the recycling of the used aluminium capsules, Nespresso has worked in conjunction with other key Swiss companies to create a stunning range of very practical and useful household objects.
The Zena Vegetable Peeler
The first collaboration produced the aluminium for the iconic Zena peeler. In fact did you know that these peelers were actually a Swiss invention in the first place?
Victorinox Limited Edition Penknife
Next Nespresso teamed up with Victorinox producing limited editions of the legendary Swiss penknife.
The Caran d’Ache Pen
In 2018 Nespresso launched its first pen made out of aluminium capsules, which was created in conjunction with the Swiss brand Caran d’Ache.
Then in 2019 Nespresso and Caran d’Ache created the “849 Nespresso” pen, which is made out of the same green colour as the Nespresso India capsules. 25% of the pen is made of aluminium obtained directly from recycled capsules. This precision writing tool is the latest collaboration where Nespresso has helped create new quality new products out of used capsules.
Aluminium Is Infinitely Recyclable
People sometimes think that it would be easier to use another material rather than aluminium. However, aluminium has some great advantages. First of all, from the product perspective it is the perfect packaging for coffee as unlike many other capsules on the market, aluminium completely preserves the quality and aroma of the coffee as well as protecting it against light, oxygen and humidity. It means that your coffee stays fresh for longer.
From the recycling perspective, aluminium is a product which can be reused over and over again. Over half of Nespresso capsules are collected, but it would be even better to get closer to 100%. So when you next have a delicious cup of Nespresso coffee, will you be giving your capsule a Second Life?
As you can see, recycling is an important step towards a sustainable future for Nespresso and they have been recycling their products since 1991. For more information on Nespresso’s Second Life Initiative please click here.
Migros Now Moving to Recyclable Aluminium Coffee Capsules
UPDATE: In an exciting and important development, it has been announced that Migros is converting its Nespresso-compatible Café Royal capsules to recyclable aluminium. The two companies can now pool together to increase the recycling rate of aluminium capsules in Switzerland from the current figure of 58% to 75%. These capsules can now also be returned to 700 Migros branches throughout Switzerland, as well as to the existing 2,700 recycling points.
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