Billions of coffee capsules end up in landfill sites, every year
The many problems with Nespresso coffee capsules include:
Too small and containing organic material, loose capsules are unsuitable for recycling via kerbside.
Items smaller than a tennis ball (approx.) usually fall through the filters at the Material Recycling Facilities (MRFs) and are sent to landfill. Additionally, any organic material (like coffee grounds) will cause contamination in recycling, therefore coffee capsules cannot be effectively recycled 'whole' via your convenient kerbside recycling bin... until now.
Less than 30% Nespresso pods are recycled*.
In 2022, it's estimated there will be over 77 billion coffee capsules produced. The love of this convenient coffee is continuing to increase, with CAGR1 predicted at 8.58% until 2026.
Nespresso is a single brand that produces approx over 20 billion capsules per year, with more than 70% entering global landfills.
When coffee capsules are tossed into the general waste, they produce methane while they decay in our landfills2. Methane is the second largest greenhouse gas that is contributing to the current climate crisis, which is resulting in unstable weather patterns all over the world.
Only one method available to recycle Nespresso®
*Nespresso have publicly disclosed that less than 30% of their capsules are being recycled (globally) through their dedicated capsule recycling facilities. That means that over 70% are likely going to landfill from a single brand.
Every month, more Nespresso-compatible products enter the marketplace providing competitive prices and greater convenience to buy at supermarkets, adding more single-use coffee capsules to landfills.
Despite these known figures, and until now, there has been only ONE method to recycle aluminium coffee pods (via "collect & return" to Nespresso® or TerraCycle®).
Stockpiling 130+ capsules (before sending back) is not an attractive option to many consumers.
Stockpiling capsules results in a mouldy, smelly mess that attracts pests.
When these coffee capsules are stockpiled, they need to be aired to dry out before sending. However, exposing them to open air also exposes them to pests in your kitchen and often results in producing little flies.
Keeping the coffee capsules in a sealed container results in them sweating and growing lots of mould, which is very smelly. However participating courier/delivery companies indicate they will not accept leaky/dripping packages. See consumer opinion
Added carbon footprint when transporting to single processing plant.
The additional carbon footprint associated with the packaging (ie. thick plastic bags and heavy duty cardboard boxes) plus lengthy transport required at the end-of-life of capsules, is consistently overlooked. The capsules are transported to a single destination in most countries, or sent further abroad to another country. In Australia, the processing plant is located in Nowra, NSW.
This is not only an issue for Nespresso. Other collect & return programs have a similar footprint.
Brand exclusivity in return programs restricts recycling
Both Nespresso® & TerraCycle® indicate only exclusive brands will be accepted in their "collect & return" aluminium coffee capsule recycling programs. Many brands have no convenient or cost-effective method to recycle their coffee capsules.
Cutting open coffee capsules is tedious and can be dangerous with a knife
There are some industrious and determined eco-conscious consumers who are resorting to cutting the capsules open with a knife, to scoop out the grounds for using on their compost/gardens.
This method is difficult and quite hazardous – I know from personal experience, cutting my fingers.
Inconvenience results in Nespresso entering landfills
With less than 30% of Nespresso being recycled globally, consumers are clearly indicating the "collect & return" method is inconvenient. The recycling percentage would be far less for Nespresso-compatible capsules, however those figures are not published for consumers to review.
Aluminium gets buried after already being mined
Aluminium is a highly valuable resource that is infinitely recyclable without degradation. The energy-intensive process to create new aluminium has huge carbon emissions associated. After the aluminium ore has already been mined, refined and used, it's far better to recycle aluminium than bury it again.
Recycling Aluminium has a 95% energy saving, resulting in a huge carbon emission reduction too.
- It takes between 150-500 years for aluminium and plastic coffee capsules to decompose in landfill2 (ie. your local dump).
- Plastic coffee capsules pose health risks when super-heated water passes through them.
- Plastic also breaks down into microplastics and research has identified that microplastics have already entered our food chain.
- Aluminium is the better option, because of its ability to be infinitely recycled.