Capsule of the future

Presented Nespresso’s global Ecolaboration program for sustainable production and social responsibility. The Italian partners committed to the project, the specific objectives and the paradigm of sustainability, read as an asset to be further developed.

Entrusted to an amused and curious Serena Dandini* the task of hosting the day, for the first time in Italy Nespresso illustrated its Ecolaboration program at the National Museum of Science and Technology, Milan, with the participation of the Italian partners who contributed to creating a model of virtuous cooperation.
Federambiente, Unione Agricoltori di Pavia, Fondazione Banco Alimentare Onlus and Consorzio Imballaggi Alluminio CiAl in various ways have in fact devised for the world leader of predosed coffee a project for recovering and recycling aluminium, but also for recoverying the coffee left inside the consumed capsule.

At a national level, hence, as well as increasing collection points for used capsules in all Nespresso boutiques, Ecolaboration will be concentrating on the process of separating the aluminium of the capsule and the residual coffee contained therein (the operation involves a specially devised selection and handling systems). And while the aluminium is processed for reuse under the parameters laid down by the CiAl, the residual coffee will be turned into compost for fertilising an area to be turned into a rice paddy, located with the help of the Unione Agricoltori.
The rice obtained will be bought by Nespresso that will donate it to the Banco Alimentare, the non-profit organization that will see to distributing the 60 thousand portions to over 8,000 charity structures.

The rational management of resources, care for the environment, social responsibility - points amply demonstrated by Nespresso’s Ecolaboration program - will become development assets which will evermore need to be considered in order to (re)-found a common future. The sociologist Francesco Morace (author of the study “The metamorphosis of sustainability”, commissioned by Nespresso) talked about the same during the Milan encounter, while Clare Brass (designer and founder of SEED Foundation) underlined the propositive role of designers as “connectors” between objects and consumers and translators of the needs of a community.

*Serena Dandini. Wellknown Italian TV personality, creator and anchorwoman of programs of culture and political satire.

Nespresso started out on its journey towards sustainability in 2003, launching the AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program, the purpose of which being to protect the future of coffee improving the quality of the same, while guaranteeing support to the coffee-growers.
Their approach was redefined in 2009 with Ecolaboration™ with the adding of three new commitments in terms of social and environmental sustainability: declaration of origin and quality of the coffee, recycling of the capsules and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
In the pictures in sequence, the "Italian" declination of the Ecolaboration™ program, developed in collaboration with CiAL, Federambiente, Unione Agricoltori di Pavia, the non profitmaking Fondazione Banco Alimentare.