Coffee pod manufacturer is taking steps towards recycling

The PR battle over going green in the coffee capsule market shows no signs of abating, but Nespresso seem to be gently veering in the right direction.

The Keurig machine, and in part Green Mountain Coffee, continues on their path forwards knowing that they face a continuous battle with the public over the recyclability – or lack thereof – of their coffee pods.

Coffee capsules are currently riding a huge wave at the moment and thankfully for those companies who have a finger in the proverbial pie; its momentum shows no sign of abating just yet. But one, big problem is that the containers used to provide the java for our jugs are getting thrown out by the billion. And many of them aren’t exactly made with environmentally friendly substances.

However Nespresso, a major rival to Keurig – and another big name in the coffee capsule market – has come up with a potential solution to reduce the footprint of their products.

Nespresso customers can now bag up all their pods and take them to their local store that will then send them to specific recycling centres.

The pods are generally made up of several compounds that make recycling through normal curbside rubbish collections near enough impossible. By taking part in the initiative, both customer and company can work in partnership to, hopefully, make the capsules that bit greener.

“As we continue to grow in the US market,” a statement on Nespresso’s website reads, “we will continue to work to expand our capacity to recycle…and to continually increase the number of capsules recycled. Recycling is one of the areas that Nespresso is committed to.”

In America, customers can also utilise a mail-back program with the carrier UPS and drop the pods off at TerraCycle collection points that are located around the country.

Outside of the United States however, options are a little more limited – to say the least. Bar a cluster of specific retail outlets in mainland Europe, recycling the containers could involve in a substantial cross-country trek. Cities such as Lyon, Vienna and Copenhagen might be well stocked of Nespresso boutiques and official partners, but venture some way off the beaten track and you’ll be left isolated from these recycling services.

We know that the Keurig 2.0 is to feature a form of DRM, the question is ‘how long until they, and other competitors, make steps to go green?’