Nestlé Debuts Paper-Based, Home-Compostable Coffee Capsule

The new capsule, made of paper with a proprietary, compostable barrier film and lid, offers Nespresso consumers a compostable coffee capsule option.

LIKE MANY MULTINATIONAL CPG companies, Nestlé has made significant commitments to reduce the environmental footprint of its packaging, including an ambitious goal to make 100% of its packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025. And, like its peers, Nestlé is employing a number of strategies and technologies in an attempt to reach those goals. One of those is moving to paper-based materials.

In 2020, Nestlé achieved the full “paperization” of the packaging for 419 SKUs of its Smarties candy-coated chocolates, moving from plastic bags and plastic packaging components to 100% renewable, recyclable paper formats. Now, after three years of R&D, the company has unveiled paper packaging for an even more challenging application: coffee capsules. The new paper-based capsule for its Nespresso Original single-cup coffee makers will complement the company’s existing recyclable aluminum capsules, providing consumers with a compostable option.

Through an internal lifecycle assessment, Nestlé determined that the environmental impact of coffee packaged in the home-compostable Nespresso paper-based capsule is comparable to that of coffee in the recyclable aluminum capsule. One of the biggest challenges in using compostable paper packaging for ground coffee is creating a barrier against oxygen to preserve the aroma, taste, and freshness of the grounds. For the Nespresso application in particular, another challenge was being able to mold the paper capsule into a shape that would be compatible with the company’s existing brewing systems.

These hurdles were addressed through the use of innovative new technologies. These included a proprietary compostable biopolymer film, thinner than a human hair, inside the capsule that acts as a barrier against oxygen and the use of a pulp-mold- ing technology from Huhtamaki.

Eighty-two percent of the new coffee capsule is made from wood fiber, while the balance, which includes the inner film liner and the lid, is made from a compostable biopolymer material.

Eighty-two percent of the capsule is made from wood fiber that has been responsibly sourced from European forests. The balance of the capsule, which includes the inner film liner and the lid, is made from a compostable biopolymer material. The capsules have been independently certified by German technical certification company TÜV as home compostable and compostable in food waste collection schemes.

For the launch of the new paper-based capsules, Nespresso’s coffee experts also developed new recipes, with the coffee sourced through the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality Program. There are four in all, one of which is organic, and all are available only in the paper capsule.

Nespresso will introduce the new coffee varieties in the paper-based capsule in France in June, followed slightly later by its introduction in Switzerland.