Nespresso has launched a recycling initiative to encourage consumers to return used aluminium capsules in exchange for a free gift.
Under the Recycling Rewards program, customers can return 100 used capsules of any brand and in return, they are entitled to either a notebook made with recycled coffee grounds, a reusable beach towel or a sleeve of Nespresso coffee.
The used coffee capsules will then be taken to a dedicated recycling facility in NSW where residue coffee grounds will be removed before they are sent to another unit where they’ll be converted into soil for landscaping or compost.
The aluminium is sent for smelting and refining and will be made into a range of products from mechanical pencils to bicycles.
Jean-Marc Dragoli, GM at Nespresso Oceania, said the initiative is an important step in the company’s sustainability strategy.
“The Recycling Rewards trial is part of a broader strategy which seeks to better understand recycling behaviour, raise awareness of and engagement with our recycling program, and give more aluminium coffee capsules a second life.”
The business also offers three additional ways for customers to recycle including dropping off capsules at collection points, posting back to Nespresso in a special Australia Post Satchel and a bulk recycling plan where a workplace or community becomes a recycling point.
Earlier this year, the company partnered with recycling companies CurbCyle and IQ Renew to launch a kerbside coffee capsule collection trial. In six months, the team collected two tonnes of recyclable coffee capsules.
