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Here's how you can recycle your coffee capsules
Give your Nespresso coffee capsules a second life, your Nespresso coffee won't just taste good, it will feel good too. Explore our five easy ways to recycle.
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Recycling just got easier with new Doorstep Collection
1. Doorstep Collection
Recycling just got easier with Doorstep Collection. Fill with your used Nespresso capsules and have them collected from your door.
All our Boutiques can collect any used aluminium capsules. Simply drop off your capsules to any Boutique on your next visit in one of our Nespresso Recycling Bags, or any suitable bag!
Many businesses, community groups and local councils take part in our recycling programme, with collection points on their premises for you to access and use for free.
Your workplace, community group or residential complex can join our bulk recycling programme for free as a private or public point, to collect and return coffee capsules for you and your community.
So all customers have the option to recycle with us, Nespresso has specially-designed, subsidised NZ Post Recycling Satchels available to order online.
Follow the journey your coffee capsules take when you recycle with us.
Delivering premium coffee, cup after cup, comes with accountability. To you, naturally, and to the world we live in. That's why Nespresso is committed to doing business responsibly. Looking for ways to make a difference wherever we can.
Coffee Quality
Aluminium guarantees the freshness of the carefully crafted aromas and rich flavours of our coffees. Lightweight but strong, aluminium seals the coffee from external elements which could affect its quality – oxygen, moisture and light.
Aluminium guarantees the freshness of the carefully crafted aromas and rich flavours of our coffees. Lightweight ... Read More +
Recyclability
At Nespresso, we seek to make a difference where we can. That's why we have developed a dedicated recycling programme with four ways for customers to get involved.
At Nespresso, we seek to make a difference where we can. That's why we have developed a dedicated recycling... Read More +
Second Life
Beyond its ability to deliver your premium coffee, we selected aluminium for other reasons. Aluminium as a material can be repeatedly recycled without losing its properties. In Aotearoa New Zealand, recycled aluminium from our capsules is returned to the aluminium industry to make new products.
To inspire people around the possibilities of recycled aluminium, Nespresso has also come together with partners around the world to create limited edition everyday items using recycled aluminium from Nespresso capsules collected overseas. These include Velosophy bicycles, Victorinox Swiss army knives, Zena vegetable peelers and even designer Hublot watches.
Beyond its ability to deliver your premium coffee, we selected aluminium for other reasons. Aluminum is not just... Read More +
Inspiring Sustainable Consumption
At Nespresso, we seek ways to make a difference anywhere we can. This is why we are committed to doing business responsibly. It means ensuring the sustainability of your coffee through a comprehensive programme, with observable results. Because sustainability justifies the means.
"The sustainability programme with Nespresso is surpassed by no one... they have set this up so that if you are responsible and you want to participate in true recycling: it is very easy to do."
— Interview on Sustainability with George Clooney
Fertilizer | Energy
Recycled coffee grounds are transformed into renewable energy in Reporoa, Waikato.
Our partner, Ecogas, uses a natural process to transform the coffee grounds into a nutrient-rich fertilizer and renewable energy. Ecogas won the Low Carbon Future Award at the 2023 New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards.
The last drop doesn't mean the last use for aluminium
Aluminium as a material can be repeatedly recycled without losing its properties. In Aotearoa New Zealand, recycled aluminium from our capsules is returned to the aluminium industry to make new products.
To inspire people around the possibilities of recycled aluminium, Nespresso has also come together with partners around the world to create limited edition everyday items using recycled aluminium from Nespresso capsules collected overseas. These include Velosophy bicycles, Victorinox Swiss army knives, Zena vegetable peelers and even designer Hublot watches.
FAQs
The collection is included in the price of the bag. You can arrange your bag to be collected with NZ Post once full with the pre-paid courier ticket.
Include the tracking number, which can be found on the bag.
Add your email address to receive a booking confirmation.
Add pick-up instructions to help the courier to find your bag.
Please ensure your bag is ready for pick-up before booking the collection, or immediately following confirmation. The courier might be just around the corner!
If the booking is made before 12:00pm (noon) – your Doorstep Collection Recycling Bag will be collected on the same business day.
If the booking is made after 12:00pm (noon) – your Doorstep Collection Recycling Bag will be collected before the end of the next business day.
For rural pick up allow 2 extra days.
On weekends or public holidays - your Doorstep Collection Recycling Bag will be collected before the end of the next business day.
There could be various reasons why your Doorstep Collection hasn’t been collected:
The bag is not ready at the time the driver came.
There are problems with accessing to the pickup point.
Parcel is not in a visible location as specified in the pickup booking
Yes. Our partner, FuturePost, helps recycle our capsule postage bags into fence post products.
The bag is made of LDPE and PET.
Yes, Nespresso coffee capsules are made from aluminium – the best material to protect the freshness and quality of our coffees, which has the additional benefit of being repeatedly recycled without losing its properties. The used coffee grounds inside our capsules can also go on to a second life.
There are currently five ways to recycle your used Nespresso aluminium coffee capsules in Aotearoa New Zealand:
Recycling just got easier with Doorstep Collection. Fill with your used Nespresso capsules and have them collected from your door.
Return your used aluminium capsules to a Nespresso Boutique.
Drop them off at a participating collection point.
Drop your used capsules back to a NZ Post shop using a special NZ Post satchel.
Participate in one of our bulk recycling collection initiatives where workplaces or community locations can become a recycling point.
Recycled coffee capsules are sent to Ecostock in Wiri, Auckland, where the aluminium is separated from the coffee grounds. Ecogas then uses a natural process to transform the coffee grounds into a nutrient-rich fertilizer and renewable energy. The aluminium is returned to the aluminium industry through our partnership with Phoenix Metalman Recycling.
We use aluminium because it is the best material to protect the freshness, taste and quality of Nespresso coffee. Aluminium is a naturally occurring metal and can be repeatedly recycled without losing its properties, and recycled aluminium is exceptionally versatile. Creating new material from recycled aluminium uses 95% less energy than being extracted from raw material. Thanks to the aluminium, there is no need for additional over-packaging to protect freshness and taste. An estimated 75% of all aluminium ever produced is still in use today. Aluminium is used in a wide range of products, from food packaging and cars, to computers, window frames and bicycles.
All our Original Line capsules are currently made from 80% recycled aluminium and most of our Vertuo capsules are made using 85% recycling aluminium.
There are two reasons: (1) the capsule manufacturer must use some virgin aluminium to fine-tune the alloy to get the right properties; and (2) the membrane is still made from virgin aluminium.
Plastic capsules generally need more packaging, such as an additional wrapper to preserve freshness. Ironically, this is often made of aluminium. As aluminium is repeatedly recycled without losing its properties, we believe it is the more sustainable material for our capsules as it reduces the need for extra packaging and is the best material to protect the freshness and quality of our coffee. Recycling plastic capsules is also complex than those made from aluminium.
At the moment, aluminium remains the best material for us to maintain the quality of our coffee during the production, transport and storage stages of our supply chain. It is also the only food safe material which can also be repeatedly recycled without losing its properties when returned to our capsule recycling scheme. Our commitment to innovation means we are always looking for more sustainable options and we will continue to test and research designs and materials.
We use a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to measure the environmental impact of our products. It shows that the greatest impacts are the processes of coffee farming, followed by the machine-use phase. Packaging is not the main driver of the environmental impact, it comes third. With the Nespresso precision consumption system, our customers only use the exact amount of water, coffee and energy needed to make one cup with no wasted resources - minimising food, water and energy waste. The precise use of resources in a precision consumption system can actually reduce waste, and in many scenarios this more than compensates for the additional packaging used for portioned coffee.
We offer a free of charge collection service to our larger customers for their used Nespresso capsules. Upon request, we will send a bulk recycling kit which contains three boxes that can hold in excess of 1,500 used aluminium capsules each (both Professional & in-home Nespresso capsules). As both Nespresso capsules are recyclable, we also encourage businesses to collect the used Nespresso aluminium capsules that employees can bring in from home, making it even easier to participate in recycling.
Our recycling service is designed to cater for Nespresso customers, so our facility can process all aluminium capsules. We’ve been doing trials as part of the product stewardship to cater to different types of capsules but it is not yet ready.
We believe that customers understand and appreciate the impact that recycling can have on improving the environmental performance of a cup of Nespresso coffee and in itself this provides a strong incentive to recycle used capsules.
