How and where to recycle coffee capsules in the Costa del Sol has been a mystery to the majority of residents with Nespresso machines or similar.
AEcafé, a company now working with the waste disposal concessionaire Urbaser are hoping to offer recycling points where the little aluminium capsules can be recovered and sent to be transformed into something useful. Until now, most households have been in doubt whether to sling them into the regular waste bins, or yellow recycling bins. The answer is neither. They should be collected in a separate bin or bag and saved to be taken to specific recycling points.
The waste produced by the increasingly popular little coffee capsules has been growing exponentially over recent years. Most commonly spotted in regular rubbish collections, they have been difficult to recover because of their small size, and no machinery exists yet that can identify and separate them from regular rubbish, meaning they all inevitably end up in landfill sites.
Malaga looking to reach EU targets on waste management
By recovering the capsules for recycling, local authorities are hoping to get closer to European Union targets on waste management. By 2035, the EU expects all member states to have reduced landfill waste by 90%.
It is estimated that around 170 kilos of the little single-use capsules could be recovered and recycled in the Malaga province per week, and more than 8 tonnes per year.
Specific bins found around Malaga
Non-profit organisation ‘Circular Capsula’, have placed bins in a variety of sites around Malaga, Fuengirola, and Churriana which can be found using the search tool at lascapsulassereciclan.com.
Many branches of Mercadona also now have coffee capsule bins at the entrance to their store in the Costa del Sol. AEcafe, funded completely by coffee capsule manufacturers, is currently working on technology to separate the capsules from regular rubbish.
In the case of plastic coffee capsules, they should be washed in water and thrown in the yellow containers along with plastic bottles and empty milk cartons.
