Often thrown away for lack of information, professionals in the field wanted to draw attention to the potential of small components that can be easily recovered and used for other projects. Coffee capsules, seals, different types of openings are all sources of aluminium that it is important to recover.
Only 32% recycled
Aluminium is one of the metals with the highest possible recycling rate but, faced with the small amount of aluminium recovered each year, raising awareness among members of the public about the possibilities in the field aims to develop certain behaviour in the future. An agreement has been signed with Eco-Emballages to inform members of the public about their role in recycling this metal.
Nespresso quickly informed its customers that its capsules should not be considered as mere containers. Creations made from old capsules have therefore appeared, but the brand now wants to go further. Building on this observation, a recycling stream has been developed to recover the parts that are called ‘fines’. Twenty-five centres specialized in this type of component have therefore been set up over the past three years in order to sort waste more effectively.
A first trial in Paris
An agreement has just been signed to widely develop this type of selective sorting. To encourage local authorities, Eco Emballages as well as Nespresso have committed to providing subsidies.
Nespresso is ready to pay €300 per tonne of recycled aluminium to any local authority that would embark on actively raising awareness among its inhabitants. This metal should therefore be recovered in significant quantities in the future because the French will learn to recognise the packaging that can be thrown into the yellow bin for recycling.
This first trial is taking place in the French capital but the scheme should quickly expand across the whole territory. Information measures should be developed at the national level and regions will be subsidized by certain partners to move to a higher level in the field of recycling. This new project marks a turning point because it is the first time the possibility of recycling a metal more effectively has been taken into account. Other metals should be affected later, as there is still much to be done in this underexploited area.