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- [Narrator] Nespresso is the first
single-serve coffee company to develop a facility
dedicated to recycling their own coffee pods, but why?
- Because we have a coffee-pod recycling problem.
- [Narrator] Single-serve coffee machines
are really popular.
About 1/3 of all American coffee-drinkers own one,
and more than 1/2 of Americans say they
use single-cup coffee pods.
Single-cup coffee sales increased to almost $4.5 billion
in 2017, but those pods aren't easy to recycle.
They're packed with coffee grounds
and can't be reprocessed using conventional methods.
Because of that, there are enough pods buried
on the planet to circle the Earth,
more than a couple dozen times.
We took a look inside Nespresso's recycling facility
to see how they're trying to change that.
Because Nespresso capsules are made of aluminum,
they need to break down in a very specific way.
So, they partnered with Ag Choice.
Ag Choice is the facility
that recycles the Nespresso capsules.
From there, the grounds are separated
from aluminum containers.
The emptied capsules are bailed and melted
and the grounds are baked.
Having the facility isn't enough,
since the company depends on customers
to ship the pods back.
Though Nespresso is taking action,
they wouldn't share with us exactly how many capsules
are actually being recycled.
- Nespresso and Keurig are two of the
leading single-serve coffee manufacturers in the world.
- [Narrator] In 2014, a video titled "Kill the K-Cup,"
caused an uproar against Keurig.
The company received backlash
because their pods contained plastic number seven,
which is difficult to recycle and could contain toxins.
Plastic number seven is the catch all of plastics,
making it really difficult to breakdown.
Keurig's co-inventor John Sylvan even said
he regretted inventing the K-Cup,
knowing how terrible the pods were for the environment.
Both Keurig & Nespresso have goals
to build a more comprehensive and sustainable
pod recycling program by 2020.
- For Business Insider Today, this is Marisa.
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