Packaging and paper company Mondi Group, working together with coffee giant Nespresso, has expanded the reach of its pod-recycling bags to Austria.
The initiative launched in October 2016 with Nespresso Austria, including a collection bag for spent capsules, free with online purchase.
The recycling bags, developed by Mondi, are biodegradable and allow for the hygienic and tidy collection of used pods.
Each bag is adapted to the standards of different countries. In Austria's case, the bag contains paper that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and covered in a Sustainex coating, which is made of renewable resources.
The recycling bags offer good protection against humidity and largely eliminate adhesives.
“Even though the Recycling Bags have been a huge success and costumers are fully satisfied, we are still working on advancing our product even further,” commented Jan-Willem Kleppers, managing director of the Mondi Extrusion Coatings unit. “Our main focus lies on an even higher practicability in handling, as well as even higher convenience for the consumer.”
Mondi said that Nespresso Austria has had great success encouraging customers to recycle the capsules, which can be broken down into their individual parts. The aluminium is melted and reused, and the coffee grounds are turned into biogas used for electricity generation.
According to Mondi, a truckful of Nespresso pods can be converted into the amount of energy necessary to power two and a half single-family houses.
Nespresso has a global recycling capacity of 86%, currently. In Austria alone, there are 1,500 collection points.
By 2020, the company hopes to achieve its ambitious 100% recycling goal.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up for ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
