A new collaboration is making it easier for households in New York’s Westchester County to recycle small aluminium items, and the International Aluminium Institute is helping ensure that recovered metal finds its way back into use.
Announced on 21 September, the initiative allows residents across the County’s Refuse Disposal District to place used Nespresso capsules and other small, non-ferrous aluminium items directly into their curbside recycling bins. The programme reaches more than 900,000 residents and processes materials locally at the Department of Environmental Facilities’ Material Recovery Facility, diverting valuable metal from the waste stream.
What sets the project apart is that it connects both sides of the recycling journey. Alongside Nespresso, Westchester County, the Glass Packaging Institute, and the US Aluminum Association, IAI is supporting the effort to grow demand for recycled aluminium, keeping the metal in use for longer and reinforcing the value of recovery.
As IAI’s Marlen Bertram notes, aluminium can be recycled endlessly, yet close to 8 million tonnes go uncollected worldwide every year, 58 percent of it from packaging. Projects like this show how collaboration across materials, customers, and communities can return far more of that metal to the circular economy.
Read the full announcement from Nespresso: Nespresso Expands Curbside Aluminum Recycling in Westchester County
