National Environment Month is celebrated yearly in June. The South African government and captains of industry lead the way by stimulating awareness of environmental issues and challenging all to become agents for change. This National Environment Month, and every day, Nespresso is inviting South African coffee lovers to give their used Nespresso capsules a second life and participate in Nespresso's global sustainability efforts. Consumers can do this by partaking in the Nespresso South Africa used capsules recycling programme.
Nespresso uses aluminium for their capsules protecting your coffee to ensure you get the freshest cup of quality coffee every time. Nespresso capsules are 100% and infinitely recyclable, meaning your coffee capsules start as and become new aluminium products once recycled. Nespresso introduced, for the first time in the coffee market, capsules made using 80% recycled aluminium in May 2020. By the end of 2022, Nespresso aim’s to have the full Original and Vertuo ranges of capsules made using recycled aluminium.
South African coffee consumers can easily play their role in this effort by following steps one to three in the below used capsule recycling process:
- With every Nespresso order you will receive a recycling bag for your used Nespresso capsules.
- Empty your used aluminium capsules into a Nespresso recycling bag.
- Once the bag is full, hand over your used capsules to Nespresso’s courier partner, or drop off your used capsules at your local Nespresso boutique.
- Nespresso have partnered with local recycling facility Oricol in South Africa. The used capsules are sent to Oricol
- At Oricol, Nespresso's local recycling partner in South Africa, the residual coffee grounds and infinitely recyclable aluminium are separated using a customised packaging separation machine developed by Nespresso
- The used coffee grounds are composted into natural fertiliser to provide a solution that uses food waste to serve as nutrient-rich soil food.
- The separated aluminium undergoes a further recycling process at a steel smelter. It is then reused to make new aluminium products, like art, through collaborations with local artists, bespoke products like the Nespresso and Vélosophy bicycle, the Nespresso recycled Caran d'Ache Pen and of course the aluminium can be used to create more Nespresso capsules.
For further details on Nespresso’s broader sustainability efforts, please visit sustainability.nespresso.com/the-positive-cup
