Nespresso Israel: "We strive to provide our customers 100% availability for recycling"

“I believe that we are the choices we make and the choices we make can make a huge difference,” said Sonia Nastase, Business Executive Officer at Nespresso Israel, speaking at the Green Economy Conference organized by Calcalist and Nespresso held on Monday. “And I think this is especially true when it comes to sustainability. Sustainability's something that we perceive as a buzzword. We know about climate change, carbon footprint, and there are a lot of words around it. So sometimes it's very difficult for us to really act and do things on our daily basis. However, I think, and I believe in the power of small steps, I think daily, small actions can lead to big change. And, and that drives me to the idea that even the coffee we drink can lead to a positive impact.”

Nastase explained why Nespresso has set an uncompromising standard in sustainability. “We developed a full strategy around this. We look from from the beginning, from when the coffee tree is planted until the recycling stage, until we recycle our used capsules, we call this the positive cup and we are really proud and happy to see the impact it has on the communities that are growing coffee, but also on the world itself.

“For us, it all starts with coffee farmers. Coffee farmers have a unique relationship with their land. Land is life. I learned this in my childhood in Romania while spending my summer holidays on my grandmother's farm. I was looking at her how every spring she was planting and when she was putting the hands into the soil it looked like she was injecting love to the ground. For us at Nespresso, producing the ultimate cup of coffee means understanding and respecting the relationship the farmers have with their land, with their life. We partner with over 12,000 farmers all around the world.”

Nastase added: “Another key aspect in our strategy is circularity. We chose aluminum to make our capsules, because this is a remarkable material. It's lightweight, it preserves the quality of the coffee until the coffee is actually consumed and it can be recycled continuously, nearly 80% of the aluminum that's in our capsule is a reclaimed material. Our efforts in Israel are to provide our customers 100% availability for recycling. So all our clients can drop off the use capsules in our boutiques, but also use our dedicated couriers so they can deliver them to our recycling facilities in Israel. The other part of the story is the used coffee in the capsules. Usually after the recycling after the separation of aluminum and coffee, we can use the coffee to create biogas with our partners and to use it as a very good quality compost for the land and also to make shoes.”

You can watch Nastase’s full presentation in the video above.