Thousands of households in Willouhgby and Mosman have joined ‘Curby,’ a recycling program launched by Australian recyclers iQ Renew and CurbCycle to help prevent aluminum coffee capsules from going into landfill.
Read: 3 Important Facts to Keep In Mind About the Clean-up Collection in Willoughby
The program initially rolled out to Sydney northern suburbs. Participants receive an orange bag where they can put the capsules they have collected. The bag can then be placed in recycling bins for collection.
iQ Renew said placing them in a bag will allow them to be separated easily in their facility. Although aluminium coffee capsules can already be collected for recycling through store drop-off and bulk recycling boxes, their small size makes it difficult to recycle them in traditional kerbside recycling systems.
Once collected, the capsules are separated from other recycling at iQ Renew’s facility and transferred to the Nespresso recycling system in NSW for separating into coffee grounds and aluminium. The grounds are then sent to an industrial composting facility to be transformed into compost, while the aluminium is recycled and sent back to the aluminium industry to produce new aluminium products.
The trial is part of a coffee capsule recycling scheme led by Planet Ark. in December 2020, the Australian Government showed support to the scheme by providing funds to Planet Ark.
According to Planet Ark, the project is critical to raising recycling rates, reducing organic material in landfill, and increasing access to collection points for a rapidly growing waste stream and already has the support of industry leaders including Vittoria, Kruger ANZ and Grinders Coffee.
The trial, which will run until December 2021, was launched in partnership with Mosman Council and Willoughby City Council. If you still want to join the Curby trial, download the app via iOS or Android and register your interest in the program.