Nespresso offers compostable paper coffee pods

Coffee giant Nespresso has announced that it has developed new home compostable paper coffee capsules for its popular Nespresso coffee machines, which could help reduce the company’s waste.

The new compostable capsules will be compatible with all Nespresso Original machines and will be trialled in France and Switzerland from next spring as an alternative to aluminum capsules.

Nespresso said the new capsules, which took three years of research and development, were created with sustainable packaging firm Huhtamaki.

The company said demand for compostable packaging is growing with research showing that around 45 percent of French people compost at least one type of bio-waste at home.

Nespresso has long claimed that its aluminum coffee capsules are “infinitely recyclable” and therefore have a minimal environmental footprint. Its pods are now manufactured using 80 percent recycled aluminum, and 100,000 aluminum pod recycling points are available in 70 countries.

However, critics argue that coffee pods are inherently wasteful and are often not recycled by customers, resulting in a significant waste footprint. Therefore, a growing number of coffee capsule suppliers are looking to develop biodegradable alternatives that can be disposed of with food waste.

Nespresso said its new pods will allow customers to choose which recycling approach to use.

“Our 40 years of experience in coffee systems have allowed us, together with the Nestlé Packaging Institute, to develop a paper capsule for home composting, retro-compatible with Nespresso Original machines, which meets and exceeds the high expectations of consumers from Nespresso in terms of protecting the aroma and taste of coffee”, said Julia Lauricella, head of Nestlé’s system technology center.

“We combined a high-precision pulping process with a biodegradable layer to protect against oxidation to preserve our coffee during transport, storage and during high-pressure extraction in our machines.”

According to Nespresso, the new pods have been certified for both home composting and industrial food waste processing by international certification body TÜV Austria.

Nespresso added that it is still committed to raising awareness among its customers about how they can compost their capsules – both the new paper versions and the traditional aluminum capsules.

Following an initial pilot launch of the new range in France and Switzerland next year, further rollout to other European countries is expected within the year.