RECYCLING WITH NESPRESSO
Nespresso did it again. What, mind-blowing coffee quality? Nothing new here. Fascinating storytelling around its products? Yes but so much more! For the fourth year in a row Nespresso is giving a second life to its capsules thanks to the brand’s Second Life initiative – a project whose goal is to raise awareness on the aluminum capsules’ recycling qualities and the perks of giving a second breath of life to your everyday’s items in general. I’ve been aware of the project since 2016 when it was launched, and I jumped into the Second Life boat last year, when Nespresso revealed its first pen realized out of aluminum capsules, made in collaboration with the internationally-acclaimed Swiss brand Caran d’Ache. This year Nespresso renewed this partnership by launching a second « 849 Nespresso » pen, this time enveloped in the deep-green color of Nespresso Master Origin India’s capsules.
Now why aluminum? Did you know that it is the only material that preserves the coffee quality and aroma and protects it efficiently against light, oxygen and humidity? Moreover, it turns out that when correctly recycled, it can be endlessly reused. I had the privilege of witnessing the entire process of capsules’ recycling a couple of months ago at Nespresso’s recycling center in Moudon and I have to tell that standing in a room made of literally tons of aluminum blocks is somehow empowering. Currently in Switzerland a tiny bit more than a half (53%) of Nespresso capsules are collected, which is good but we can do better right? Especially as the collect is now made easy with La Poste’s free Recycling@Home service – basically you just drop your filled Nespresso recycling bag (each bag can hold up to 200 capsules and is provided for free) in your letter box’s storage compartment and your mail carrier will pick it up on his next round. Of course there are other collection options available; you can drop your bag directly to a Nespresso boutique or at a Nespresso partner (such as Manor and Fust), or leave it in one of the 2’700 collection points available in Switzerland. Free-of-charge and easy-breezy, we should all be recycling.
In my everyday life I try doing my best to give my environment a second life, on a daily basis I recycle all the paper boxes I receive for work, I buy local as often as possible and of course I send my used Nespresso capsules to their rightful place at the recycling center in Moudon. But being part of a generation that can no longer pretend ignorance regarding our planet’s state, I know I need to do more. As you know my activity involves a lot of fashion, and I had to learn bringing environment consciousness into that as well – these past few years I’ve been mending my clothes to avoid waste, for example the dress I’m wearing in these pictures used to be my mother’s pregnancy dress back to when she was pregnant with my sisters, I liked the pattern and the fabric so we « designed » a shorter version with a more modern cache-coeur shape and my mother sew it out of the original dress. But I know that not everyone has time and skills for this, so I can also suggest shopping vintage and pre-owned items (I recently opened my own vide-dressing page on Instagram, feel free to check it out) or dig into the collections of some ethically made brands.
