The case for coffee capsules

Coffee capsules made from aluminium foil have been around for more than three decades. There are several very good reasons why this format has enduring popularity among both major coffee brands and, importantly, consumers. Firstly, aluminium is an ideal barrier material to maintain the quality, condition and aroma of fresh ground coffee. Moreover, it enables this to happen over an extended shelf life and in an ultra-convenient, inexpensive and waste-reducing format. In addition, the look and feel of aluminium and the ease with which impactful designs can be printed on the surface, make it a modern and high quality product.

It is not an accident that consumers can now enjoy a dazzling variety of coffees from every corner of the globe – from Indonesia to Columbia and beyond – with added flavours and exciting blends to try. This would simply not have been possible with other pack and preparation styles, as these require greater quantities of the product.

Freshness is a growing priority for today’s coffee consumers, and if materials with lower barrier properties are used or capsules are not properly sealed, it can cause coffee to become stale and lose its flavour more quickly. Once ground, coffee’s surface area increases exponentially, which means it becomes much more prone to oxidation and losing its complex flavours. The finer the coffee is ground, the more pronounced this issue becomes. When preparing roasted coffee to be used in capsules, it must be ground finer than for espresso. This is one of the reasons that hermetic sealing is so important and with aluminium foil capsules, performance and sealability is simply better.

Of course, like any other style of ‘single use ’packaging, the aluminium coffee capsule has come under scrutiny for being resource wasteful in terms of material used per serving, even though the metal is completely recoverable. In fact the environmental impact of a cup of coffee goes a long way beyond just the packaging, from coffee sourcing and manufacturing through distribution to the packaging and brewing. Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) have found that more than 90% of the carbon footprint is related to the coffee production and the preparation at consumer level. Several factors, including the exact portion size, have shown that capsules can be an environmentally friendly proposition for coffee drinkers.

Many of the major suppliers, notably the Nespresso brand and Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), have been making efforts to continuously improve the sustainability of their product. As well as the established benefits, such as perfectly preserving the coffee, capsules in aluminium have the potential to be widely collected and recycled.

Looking at their environmental performance, several levers have been used to increase the sustainability of coffee. Brands have worked to improve the efficiency of their machines, aiming to use the exact amount of coffee, energy and water needed for each cup of coffee, so no resources are wasted unnecessarily during preparation. Additionally, by brewing exactly the amount of coffee required by the consumer, capsules help to avoid excess use of coffee.

More recycling of the aluminium foil capsules can further improve this environmental balance: aluminium is well known to be fully recyclable, saving up to 95% of its primary production. The main prerequisite for recycling is the appropriate means of collection.

One huge barrier to a wider collection of beverage capsules is the fact that they are not currently classified as packaging because the product remains in the capsules. However, this might be about to change, according to one proposal from the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) by the Eu Commission, which was made at the end of 2022. This proposal seeks to classify “coffee or tea system single-serve units” as packaging, a move which has been welcomed by both the capsule manufacturing value chain and the coffee manufacturers. This would enable access to all Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes to ensure consumers can dispose of the used coffee capsules together with other lightweight packaging. Once in the appropriate waste management stream, the aluminium foil capsules are then sorted by eddy current separators and usually sent to pyrolysis, so that the aluminium re-enters the material cycle.

On that very positive note, work to increase the collection and recycling of aluminium capsules in Europe has continued to gather pace, with several, highly successful, initiatives in place. Here are some of the latest developments from across the continent: germany:

In Germany, companies putting aluminium coffee in capsules on the market

(‘producers’) pay the Extended Producer Responsibility fee in order to cover the costs of collecting, sorting and recycling these capsules. This means that consumers can simply dispose of them in the yellow bin for recycling. Nespresso accepts used capsules returned to its boutiques. Aluminium capsules, collected and sorted together with other packaging containing aluminium, are sent to pyrolysis where the aluminium material can be recovered.

France:

Already 50% of the French population (which is scheduled to rise to 100% in 2023) can dispose of aluminium coffee capsules in the recyclable household waste bin, together with other small metal items. Once collected, aluminium coffee capsules can be sorted and sent for aluminium recycling. Nespresso worked with Citeo to install additional eddy current separators in French recycling centres to separate small aluminium packaging from other materials.

In addition, nearly 5,000 dedicated aluminium coffee capsule collection points – pick-up points, waste collection centres and partner supermarkets – are operational throughout France. The aluminium capsules are then treated and recycled through a specific route.

Belgium: austria: italy: netherlands: switzerland:

Since January 2023, all plastic and aluminium coffee capsules will be allowed in the blue recyclable bag, together with other household packaging. In the first year, the Belgian EPR operator Fost Plus is counting on collecting about 350 million coffee capsules. These will then be sorted out and recycled by a German or Dutch partner.

In Belgium, aluminium coffee capsules are the most profitable element of the system for recycling small aluminium packaging. This means that if they are eliminated due to a ban or mandatory composting, the recycling of other items (cheese wrapping, bottle closures, aluminium lids) would be under threat.

Capsules can be collected for recycling in various ways, ensuring coverage throughout Austria. Consumers can dispose of used capsules in any of over 19,000 “yellow bins” for plastic and metal packaging in Vienna or at public collection points for metal packaging in selected cities and regions. In addition, over 2,000 dedicated capsule collection points are operational throughout Austria.

Consumers can bring their used capsules to the 163 dedicated collection systems in 78 cities – about 150 million aluminium coffee capsules were collected in 2022. These are sent to a processing plant equipped with appropriate technology for treatment and separation into aluminium and coffee grounds. The coffee is extracted, composted and used as fertiliser. The aluminium is recycled back into everyday objects, including new aluminium coffee capsules. The programme is expected to grow with the development of new collection points to accommodate the interest by customers and growing demand for aluminium coffee capsules.

While soft coffee pads and tea bags must be disposed in the organic waste bin, coffee capsules and pods are excluded from this requirement. This is because already 97% of soft coffee pods are compostable. The coffee value chain is working on collection and recycling aluminium and plastic coffee capsules via public waste streams.

Swiss Aluminium Capsule Recycling was founded in 2020 by Nespresso and Delica, with the aim of increasing the recycling rate for coffee capsules made from aluminium in Switzerland. The scheme emerged from a private initiative, but has a non-profit character. It makes Nespresso’s recycling system accessible to the entire sector. Today, there are currently over 3,700 collection points throughout Switzerland for used aluminium coffee capsules and 58% are already recycled in Switzerland. The short term goal is goal is to increase this percentage to 75%.

Podback is a not-for-profit recycling service created by Nestlé and Jacobs Douwe Egberts, to give coffee pod consumers simple and easy ways to recycle. Launched in April 2021, the programme saw significant growth in 2022, with over 500,000 households able to recycle pods as part of their local authority kerbside service, and growing support from across the coffee and grocery sectors. Pods from 16 brands can now be recycled through Podback via kerbside or drop-off schemes.

Many coffee brands continue to choose aluminium over plastic or compostable equivalents to produce long life, flavour-fresh coffee capsules. This is not only because aluminium offers unique barrier properties and protects the freshness and aromas of capsulated coffee but it is a perfect material for the circular economy and resource efficiency because it can be recycled again and again, without losing its properties. In response, the foil industry is investing in additional production capacity to meet increased demand for sustainable packaging solutions.

With their strong environmental credentials and ‘best in class’ performance for the coffee makers and the consumer, aluminium capsules are clearly a widely accepted packaging format which works, not only on the practical level, but also as an effective marketing tool. This has helped the coffee sector expand its offering, whilst adding a distinct and high quality image to the product. In some ways it represents a perfect packaging solution.