COFFEE POD RECYCLING
The capsule of good hope. Thanks to us
The old pods used in single-serve coffee makers are simply too good to throw away. At the end of the day, aluminium – which makes up most of the pod – is a valuable raw material. Which is why we have come up with the best possible recycling scheme.
A delicious cup of coffee, an ideal recycling scheme
Less is more – at least this would appear to be the case when it comes to coffee. The number of people turning to single-serve coffee makers is increasing all the time. 12,300 aluminium coffee pods are used every minute by households and firms across the globe. A number that is steadily rising. Coffee capsules, however, are not only on the rise because they are so popular. They are actually more sustainable than other coffee making systems. Especially as the whole of the pod can be recycled. Aluminium, the material that makes up most of the pod, is particularly suitable for being returned to production cycles and has an excellent climate footprint. More than enough reason, therefore, for REMONDIS to promote the systematic recovery of coffee pods – by establishing a dedicated collection and recycling concept. As a result, we have developed the technology needed to enable aluminium coffee pods to be fully recycled. This scheme is being implemented in the Netherlands and Australia.
Coffee pods like these are made up mostly of aluminium. This makes them perfect for recycling. Provided there is a scheme in place that enables them to be collected separately.
So why is it so important to recycle aluminium?
Aluminium is a so-called non-ferrous metal. Virgin aluminium is produced from minerals using bauxite. This natural raw material is rare and extracting it from the ground causes considerable damage to the environment. What’s more, producing aluminium from bauxite is a highly energy-intensive process. The situation is very different when this light metal is produced from recycled material. 20 times less energy is required here. This, in turn, means far fewer climate-damaging carbon emissions. Add to the equation the fact that aluminium can, in principle, be recycled again and again with no loss in material then it quickly becomes clear why REMONDIS believes it is so important to recycle aluminium. It is simply a textbook example of sustainability in practice.
It all begins with the collections
The same is true for aluminium pods as it is for all other types of waste: the recycling process begins with the materials being collected separately. A comprehensive collection scheme was put in place to make it possible for the pods to be recovered and we are responsible for all the logistics here. Consumers can drop off their old capsules at dedicated collection points. Or they can return them using a parcel service.
The route to the recycling plant
Aluminium and coffee grounds – everything is recycled
The actual recycling of the pods is carried out at a plant in the Netherlands – close to the German-Dutch border – that was developed specifically for this purpose. The first step here is to remove the plastic lid and coffee grounds from the aluminium pods so that they can be cleaned. Once this has been done, the material is compacted or melted down and then sent straight to aluminium-processing businesses. As a valuable recycled raw material for making new products.
And what happens to the coffee grounds that were removed? We recycle these as well, of course. In three different ways in fact. To be able to do this, we operate a digester and downstream composting facility. By using this technology, we are able to implement a cascade system and transform the spent coffee grounds into biogas, compost and CO2 fertiliser.
Fermentationsanlage zur Biogasproduktion
A wide range of manufacturers use our coffee pod recycling scheme. The goal is to achieve a 100% recycling rate.
A more roundabout way of recycling. A quick look at Germany
Germany has not yet got a uniform coffee pod collection scheme. The majority of the coffee pods here take a different route that is less beneficial as far as recycling is concerned. They end up in the recycling bin – or the yellow bin as it is still known in some regions – using a collection scheme that is unique to Germany and is primarily used to collect sales packaging made of plastic and metal. Which means aluminium coffee pods belong in this bin, too. As they are not collected separately, they must first be segregated from the other types of recyclable materials before they can be sent to an aluminium recycling facility. A circuitous process, therefore, that really needs to be improved if sustainability is to be promoted. Ultimately, each additional step that has to be taken creates an additional hurdle to reaching the goal of recycling 100% of all coffee pods.
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