New EU coffee capsule legislation could drive composting innovation but mislabeling fears abound

09 Dec 2022 --- The EU set new regulations on coffee capsules and plastic bags. Companies will be required to use as little packaging as possible, while countries will have to ensure that 65% of all packaging waste is recycled by the end of 2025. 

This legislation is part of the European Commission’s (EC) recent version of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive. It stipulates that certain plastic packaging, such as tea bags, coffee pods, very light plastic bags and sticky labels for fruit and vegetables, must be compostable. 

According to the draft, EU countries and firms have to ensure containers used for everyday products can be more easily recycled or biodegrade naturally. Pre-regulation announcements have led coffee companies like Nespresso to work on reducing waste in coffee capsules over recent months with a focus on compostable materials. 

“Packaging increased in recent years faster than the gross national income, which leads to soaring CO2 and other emissions, and the overexploitation of natural resources, biodiversity loss and pollution,” writes the EC. 

Nespresso launches compostable coffee cups in line with new EU regulations. Suspected legislation 
The European coffee pods and capsules market is expected to have a CAGR of 6.8% over the forecast period, 2020-2025. The growth drivers of coffee pods and capsules in Europe over the past few years have been a combination of convenience, premium positioning, brand experience, and the ability of manufacturers to innovate and provide new products, according to studies. 

“The current EU legislation does not contain a ban specifically for disposable coffee capsules,” wrote the EC in a 2020 statement. The details of what will change remain unclear, but it is known the measures cover everything from stickers on apples to single-use carrier bags.

The legislation is expected to have ramifications across food production and chemical manufacturing sectors. It has been revealed from the leaked draft that firms will have to ensure containers can be reused or recycled and that the regulations will also affect a range of sectors, including food and chemicals. 

“A circular packaging economy will help decouple economic development from the use of natural resources,” says the draft.

Composting coffee
Nestlé’s Nespresso brand announced that it will pilot home-compostable coffee capsules on the Nespresso Original system in France and Switzerland from spring 2023 before further launches in several other European countries within a year. 

Huhtamaki recently utilized its Fiber Solutions technology to partner with Nestlé and provided its Nespresso brand with paper-based, home-compostable coffee capsules. The pods are made from 82% paper pulp with a thin compostable biopolymer film certified as “OK compost Home and Industrial” by TÜV Austria. 

Huhtamaki’s partnership with Nespresso began in early 2021 to develop a home-compostable, paper-based coffee capsThe EU announces biodegradable regulations on coffee capsules.ule and provide consumers with an alternate choice to Nespresso’s existing pods. 

False compost claims
The new legislation could cause coffee companies to turn to compostable capsule options similar to Nespresso. PackagingInsights recently interviewed Daphna Nissenbaum, co-founder and CEO at Tipa, about how composting “can change the world” if given the same publicity and investment as recycling.  

However, reports have shown that many products that claim to be “home compostable” are not and contribute to a larger greenwashing scheme established by the packaging industry. This could complicate the new regulations. 

Nespresso points to a French Environment and Energy Management Agency Consumer survey from 2020, which found that demand for compostable packaging is increasing, with an estimated 45% of French people now home composting one or more types of biowaste.

According to Innova Market Insights, compostable packaging is regarded by French consumers as the fourth most environmentally sustainable packaging type (11%), behind recyclable packaging (28%), reusable packaging (25%) and packaging made from recycled materials (13%).

As coffee companies are told they will need to make more environmentally sustainable options, they will turn to compost capsules, demonstrated previously, which could lead to further cases of home compost mislabeling.

By Sabine Waldeck 

To contact our editorial team please email us at editorial@cnsmedia.com