Coffee capsules made of aluminum can be very effectively recycled when consumers deposit them in the Yellow Bin or the Yellow Sack in Germany. “We can recover a high proportion of the capsules’ material and return it to the aluminum circuit,” says Michael Wiener, CEO of Duales System Holding. In 2013, according to the Federal Environment Agency, 66,500 tons of packages containing aluminum were disposed of by private households in Germany. Of this, 85.5 percent were mechanically recycled, i.e. made into new aluminum.
Coffee capsules that after use still contain the coffee grounds are strictly speaking not regarded as packages under the German Packaging Ordinance, and would thus be excluded from collection through the Yellow Bin. However, the coffee grounds do not impede recycling of the coffee capsules, which means that producers can apply for voluntary take-back through the dual system. Some producers, like Nespresso, have done this – their capsules participate in the dual system, and are thus allowed to be recycled through the Yellow Bin.
“The government agencies concerned have verified that the recycling process works, and have accordingly issued their approval,” emphasizes Michael Wiener. The quantities of waste that are generated by coffee capsules are miniscule compared to the total quantity of packages in Germany.
You can see how recycling of coffee capsules made of aluminum functions in a video.