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Turning waste into wares

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NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto capsule planters
NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto capsule planters

NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto used coffee capsules can now be recycled every year and turned into new products and materials as part of a new capsule recycling program launched in Australia and New Zealand.

The partnership, between TerraCycle and Nestlé, will not only help to reduce the number of NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto coffee, milk and tea pods going to landfill, but the scheme will also benefit charities as a percentage of each capsule will go to a not-for-profit organisation.

Consumers will be able to mail their used NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto capsules free through Australia Post to TerraCycle. For every capsule collected over a 2kg shipment, participants will earn up to two cents per capsule to be redeemed for a payment to a charity of the consumer’s choice.

The capsules will be then recycled into two streams: residual coffee grounds will be separated and sent to an industrial composting facility, instead of going to landfill. The plastic capsules will be melted down, pelletised and made into a range of new sustainable products such as park benches, garden pavers, and a range of home accessories.

“NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto capsules don’t have to be discarded after one use at your morning coffee break but can be recycled at no cost to the consumer,” said Head of NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Australia and New Zealand, Tracy Hardwick.

“This program aims to engage the community around sustainability and to re-think where our consumer waste and packaging ends up.”

NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto is the second brand to partner with TerraCycle. Earlier this year Nespresso partnered with them to help recycle their used aluminium coffee pods.

This initiative is part of Nestlé’s broad range of environmental commitments aimed at reducing the amount of packaging we use in our products and the waste we generate. Globally we are on track to achieve our objective of zero waste for disposal in 10 per cent of Nestlé factories by 2015.

Here in Oceania we redesigned the packaging of six of our products in 2013, reducing the amount of materials by 732 tonnes a year.

For more information on reducing waste click here.

Find out more about:

- NESPRESSO Recycling
- NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Capsule Brigade