Compostable capsule for the Italian espresso

A new development model starts from coffee and the first compostable all-Italian capsule, the result of a project that has involved two Italian excellences, Lavazza and Novamont, in a research project lasting five years.

Lavazza’s patented capsule will be made of Mater-Bi 3G, compatible with the Lavazza Minù machine and available in two 100% Arabica fine blends, certified by the NGO Rainforest Alliance: Operations commence from the second half of 2015, distribution will be in 2016.
The third generation of bioplastics is a family of materials with a higher percentage of renewability, which uses vegetable substancesalso from the integrated agricultural chain, which are recycled in composting, are biodegradable in natural environments and which ensure a significant reduction of gas emissions compared to previous technologies.
Lavazza has focussed on the end of the product’s lifecycle; hitherto in the linear production-consumption-disposal model, waste products were sent to the landfill or for incineration. Applying the principle of zero waste of the circular economy, according to which nothing becomes waste but everything is a resource with benefits for the environment, Lavazza and Novamont have developed a capsule that goes into biowaste, to be sent for industrial composting, where the used capsule and coffee remains are turned into natural manure for the soil.

WORKING FOR SUSTAINABILITY In the year of EXPO (Lavazza Coffee is the Official Partner of the Italian Pavilion of the Universal Exhibition) the Lavazza Sustainability Hub, hosted for the occasion at Cascina Cuccagna of Milan, will be the center of many company activities in terms of sustainability. Together with Novamont, the Turin Polytechnic and with the collaboration of Slow Food and the University of Pollenzo, Lavazza will organize meetings, workshops and educational courses on end-of-lifecycle enhancement. The stage will be a didactic greenhouse built following the principles of ecological design and that will show the multiple reuse of coffee grounds in different productive sectors: from the construction industry to chemicals, from energy to cosmetics.
Also during EXPO, Lavazza will work together with Milan Municipal Waste Collector AMSA on a project that demonstrates the social, cultural and economic development of this approach: AMSA will arrange for the retrieval of the coffee grounds, which will then be handed over to associations involved in the project and brought to collection centers run by social cooperatives. These are tasked with turning the coffee grounds to their new uses: as a substrate for edible mushrooms, as pellets, inks, semi-finished items and many other products.