Caprabo has announced that it has recycled 23,697 kilograms of waste from around 2 million coffee capsules collected by the company in the past year.
The supermarket installed containers to collect used coffee capsules for recycling in more than 200 stores last year.
Coffee Capsule Recycling
The initiative was outlined in the group's corporate social commitment strategic plan and contributes to reducing the environmental impact generated by coffee capsules because it allows the recovery of 100% of the raw materials of the pods.
Of all the recycled materials, 79% have become compost for mushrooms, fungi, and other compost substrates.
The remaining 13% derived from plastic and aluminium have been melted to give the material a second life, the retailer added.
Used coffee pods are often wrongly recycled in the yellow container, which can be used for plastic packaging.
However, as they are made of plastic, aluminium, and organic waste, they must be recycled at specific collection points.
The containers are located and identified at the entrance of the Caprabo supermarkets.
To manage the recycling of coffee capsules, the company has designed a reverse logistics process for collecting used capsules in stores.
Spain currently recycles only 20% of used coffee capsules due to the shortage of collection points.
Sustainability Efforts
Caprabo is a socially and environmentally responsible company, which seeks to reduce waste and CO2 emissions.
Fifty thousand customers shop at its supermarkets every day.
In September of this year, the grocery retailer announced that it plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Conor Farrelly. For more Retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
