The capsule adds a waste the cherry had not foreseen: an aluminum or plastic container weighing a few grams around 5 to 14 g of grind. Nespresso had sold more than 20 billion capsules between 2000 and August 2010, with growth of about 30% a year; each capsule not recycled leaves about 1 g of aluminum, whose recycling requires only 5% of the energy of primary production. In 2017, 24.6% of Nespresso capsules were actually recycled worldwide, whereas the company said it had the capacity to recycle 100% and had collection systems in 36 countries; more than 80% of the capsules produced in 2015 contained recycled aluminum. The stated goal today is a worldwide recycling rate of 60% in 2030. In early 2016, Hamburg banned capsules in city buildings on environmental grounds. Keurig switched its K-Cups to recyclable polypropylene at the end of 2020; Nespresso launched in 2023 in France and Switzerland paper-based pods intended for biowaste collection. Capsules that are compostable “under industrial conditions” pose their own problem: they degrade only in industrial composting and contaminate plastics collection if thrown in there.

Wikipedia, “Nespresso” and “Single-serve coffee container,” accessed on 09/07/2026; nestle-nespresso.com/sustainability, accessed on 09/07/2026

• The European framework has changed. Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of December 19, 2024 on packaging and packaging waste (PPWR), in force since February 2025, replaces directive 94/62/EC: from 2030, all packaging will have to reach a recyclability grade (A, B or C) based on design criteria, and at least grade B in 2038
• minimum recycled-content rates apply to plastics from 2030, raised in 2040
• single-use formats are banned from January 1, 2030 (annex V)
• article 9 requires permeable tea and coffee bags and flexible pods to be compostable under industrial conditions by February 12, 2028 at the latest, throughout the Union and without any collection condition; the condition of biowaste collection applies only to the national option that targets rigid non-metallic pods for machines. The mixture of plastic, aluminum and wet grounds that makes up the capsule is exactly what this regulation targets.

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of 12/19/2024, eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2025/40; Wikipedia, “Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation,” accessed on 09/07/2026

Life cycle analysis nevertheless tempers the case against the capsule. The team from the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (Viana et al., 2023) compares four preparations of a 280 ml cup: traditional filter uses 25 g of grind, French press 17 g, capsule 14 g, instant 12 g. Coffee production accounts for 40 to 80% of total emissions: producing 11 g of arabica emits about 59 g of CO2 equivalent, whereas making a capsule and landfilling it emit 27 g. The traditional filter, which overdoses and heats more water, has the highest footprint; instant the lowest, at recommended doses. The visible waste is not the main item.

Viana, Marty, Boucher & Dessureault (UQAC), The Conversation, 01/05/2023

Capsules and carbon

Wikipedia “Nespresso”; nestle-nespresso.com/sustainability; The Conversation, 01/05/2023 and 01/04/2021