Nespresso

Nespresso coffee capsules are made from aluminum – the best material to protect the freshness and quality of our coffee, which has the additional benefit of being infinitely recyclable. Nespresso has been investing in its dedicated recycling scheme for more than 25 years. We are committed to making it as simple and convenient for our customers to recycle their Nespresso capsules.

Now in Vietnam, to recycle your used Nespresso aluminum coffee capsules, please return your used capsules for every home delivery order.

Nespresso aluminum coffee capsules that are recycled with Nespresso are sent to a specialist recycling plant. There, the aluminum is separated from the residual coffee. The coffee is sent to local farms to be transformed into compost, while the aluminum is recycled and sent back to the aluminum industry to produce new aluminum products.

We use aluminum because it is the best material to protect the freshness, taste and quality of Nespresso coffee. Aluminum is a naturally-occurring metal and is infinitely recyclable. Thanks to the aluminum, there is no need for additional over-packaging to protect freshness and taste. Recycled aluminum is extremely versatile. An estimated 75% of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today. Aluminum is used in a wide range of products, from food packaging to cars and computers, window frames to bicycles.

Nespresso capsules require a special grade of aluminum. The availability of recycled aluminum in this specific grade is very low. In fact, the best source of the correct grade of aluminum is from recycled Nespresso capsules. We are using recycled Nespresso capsules to make new capsules wherever it is feasible and it makes sense environmentally.

Plastic capsules generally need more packaging such as an additional wrapper to preserve freshness. Ironically, this is often made of aluminum. We believe aluminum is the more sustainable material for our capsules as it reduces the need for extra packaging and protects the freshness and quality of our coffee - and it is infinitely recyclable.

We believe that portioned coffee makes sense from a sustainability perspective. We use a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to measure the carbon footprint of our products. We are working at all stages of our product life-cycle – from seed to sip – to reduce our environment impact. Since 2009, we have already reduced the carbon footprint of every cup of Nespresso by almost 20%.

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 only 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 or during delivery, we pick up their used aluminum capsules (both Professional & in-home Nespresso capsules). As both Nespresso capsules are recyclable, we also encourage businesses to collect the used Nespresso aluminum capsules that employees can bring in from home, making it even easier to participate in recycling.

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.