Recycling, what else? After enjoying the caffeine, take the packaging to the collection point instead of throwing it in the trash: an initiative that has given a huge boost to the processing of used coffee capsules since the autumn. Pettenbach plays a crucial role in this. The system required for this is located in Upper Austria.
Coffee enjoyment and the fight against mountains of waste: these two topics can no longer be separated. When it comes to to-go consumption, a lot revolves around the question of how we can reduce the consumption of cups that ultimately end up in the trash. When it comes to capsules, the use of aluminum is a particularly big problem.
“We introduced our own recycling system on a voluntary basis in 2009 to keep aluminum in the cycle for as long as possible,” says Marianne Neumüller-Klapper, sustainability manager at Nespresso Austria. There are already more than 2,100 collection points in the Alpine Republic for Nestlé Group branded capsules.
Since the autumn of 2023, the range of return points for used coffee capsules of all brands and materials has been expanded on the initiative of Altstoff Recycling Austria AG, ARA for short, and the Austrian Coffee and Tea Association.
Pilot project runs until the end of this week
In Upper Austria, these can now be returned to recycling collection centres, to all Billa Plus stores and to all Nespresso drop-off locations – at least until the end of the week, which is how long the pilot project will run.
More than nine million capsules have been collected in recent months, all of which are processed at the Seccon recycling factory in Pettenbach. Aluminum and plastic are extracted from the packaging and biofertilizers, oil binders and biogas can be produced from the coffee grounds.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
