Roughly once a month, employees from Nespresso’s North American headquarters in Manhattan board a bus and take the 60-mile journey to rural Sussex County.

With the city in the rear-view, skyscrapers give rise to an open landscape defined by lakes, postage-stamp downtowns and hilly green vistas that stretch into the distance. It’s a far cry from their normal 9-to-5 digs.

Yet this isn’t just a team-building exercise. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. On a farm and warehouse near Route 206, Jay and Jill Fischer of Ag Choice Organics Recycling are playing a key role in helping Nespresso advance its North American sustainability goals, one recycled coffee capsule at a time. It’s important enough to the brand that the company brings as many new and current employees as possible to see the process firsthand.

You may recall the company’s recent ad campaign, which featured a chainmail-clad dragon slayer George Clooney who time-travels to the future to seek a hot cup of coffee as his reward. Yet here’s where pesky thoughts begin buzzing: Hasn’t single-serve coffee raised concerns among sustainability advocates? Aren’t plastics showing up everywhere from sewage drains to the digestive tracts of shellfish?

Single-use plastics are problematic, and coffee pods from all brands travel with regularity from kitchen to trash to landfill. It’s a hot issue in an industry that has converted 26% of coffee drinkers, according to a 2018 online survey by the National Coffee Association—though concerns ripple throughout the modern economy. According to a 2018 U.N. report, “Single-Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability,” only 9% of all plastic ever produced globally has been recycled. “If current consumption patterns and waste management practices continue,” the report reads, “then by 2050 there will be around 12 billion tonnes of plastic litter in landfills and the environment.”

Given that reality, Nespresso uses recyclable aluminum rather than plastic for its capsules—which, to be fair, must actually be recycled to avoid becoming a long-term landfill tenant. Beyond moving away from plastic and toward a material that is infinitely recyclable, Nespresso’s switch to aluminum pods has a bonus benefit: it also keeps the coffee fresh. Working to reduce the per-cup carbon footprint by 28% between 2009 and 2020 on the sourcing side, the company set a goal of achieving full Aluminum Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certification by 2020, thereby satisfying global sustainability standards.

And when it comes to coffee, the grounds in each capsule are steeped with possibilities for a rich second life. Enter the Fischers, who have become card-carrying coffee geeks on a mission.

FROM GROUNDS TO TOPSOIL

In 2012, Ag Choice designed a capsule-recycling program that separates Nespresso coffee grounds from its capsules and transforms yesterday’s grounds into tomorrow’s healthy compost. Formally launched in 2013, the premise is simple, though it requires a little effort. Coffee drinkers across North America can recycle their spent capsules using prepaid-by-Nespresso UPS mailers (free to consumers) or by visiting Nespresso Boutiques and retail locations, including those at Short Hills and Paramus.

The spent capsules arrive at Ag Choice daily by the trailer load. During the first phase of the process, a ripper tears open the bags in which the capsules arrive. The plastic is baled and sent out for further recycling at another facility. Using a separator system deployed for everything from Nespresso capsules to food items from other clients, Ag Choice then sends the capsules along a conveyor line. Along the way, the capsules are scanned and sorted with magnets to remove contaminates. (Think silverware, batteries, etc. Someone once sent in an entire kitchen faucet along with their used Nespresso capsules.)

Finally, the capsules are fed into a chamber that ruptures them using paddles. Here, the aluminum and coffee part ways. The former is sent to a local recycling facility twice weekly for further processing. Grounds are transferred to the eight-acre Ag Choice compost site every day in 40-cubic- yard containers. There, the grounds are transformed along with other feedstocks into rich compost and topsoil and sold to garden centers across the tri-state area.

“The soils and all of the materials coming on to the job have to meet state specs. We’re one of the few companies in the state that can meet that standard,” Jay says.

Jill ties the health of their topsoil product to the compost: “The more diverse your inputs, the richer your finished output. We’ve got all these different inputs that makes the micro-life so much more diverse, which the plants love.”

NEW JERSEY’S GOAL IS TO SEE A 50% REDUCTION IN FOOD WASTE BY 2030. WHILE EVERYONE HAS A ROLE IN COMBATTING FOOD WASTE, FROM HOMEOWNERS TO CORPORATIONS, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCERS HAVE AN OUTSIZED ABILITY TO MOVE THE NEEDLE.

RECIPE FOR COMPOSTING

When Jay Fischer looks back on what Ag Choice has accomplished, he wouldn’t say that the path was clear. Not initially. After high school, he bought and operated a long-haul truck. He and his parents launched Fischer & Son Sawmills in 1997, providing wood chips and shavings to horse farms for bedding. Seeing a gap in livestock manure management, Fischer had long toyed with a composting side project, but it took a back seat as the sawmill thrived.

When his mother grew ill, Jill took over the bookwork and found Jay’s composting notes stowed in a file. “The next thing I know, we’re putting together a business plan for Ag Choice,” Jay recalls. The couple received their operating permit in July 2006 and became New Jersey’s first on-farm animal- and food-waste composter.

When the sawmill shuttered in 2008, fate intervened with a call from a national waste-management facility seeking a commercial organic-food-waste processing partner. It was a sign—and the Fischers take those seriously. Their next chapter as a dedicated composting facility had begun.

Naysayers protested that growing a successfully operating food-waste recycling facility wasn’t possible in New Jersey. Regulations are tight. Land is expensive. The population is high, meaning odor control is an ongoing concern. It was the fuel Jay needed. “I always thought it was such a fantastic business model to be able to collect waste, process it, generate zero landfill waste and create another usable product that we really need,” he says. “Right from the beginning, it was my goal to prove that I could do it.”

The monetary rewards are there, but Jay is most fascinated by the science of decomposition. Near Route 206 in Andover Township, straddle turners churn compost set out to dry in 30 massive windrows, the tidy lines of raw materials, or feedstocks. All told, inputs like those Nespresso grounds spend 12–14 weeks being converted into organic compost composed of materials that would otherwise languish in a landfill. The stakes for pursuing alternative solutions to landfill waste disposal are high.

Edward Humes’ book Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash likens landfills to mummification chambers, reporting that archaeologists perusing a dump for research found decades-old hot dogs that looked ready-to-eat.

Fischer doesn’t think of himself as a farmer, per se, but he grew up working on vegetable and dairy farms and sees similarities in the work. “I enjoy getting my hands in the soil,” he says. “I appreciate grabbing a handful of dirt and having that nice, rich earthy smell and seeing what you can do when you work the earth.”

At heart, composting is the art of managing microbial communities. To start, lab-analyzed feedstocks are arranged into 250-cubic-yard piles. The compost recipe is comprised of roughly one-third food waste, along with coffee, nuts, herbs, and leaves. “When we’re composting, we’re building a recipe. Just like when you bake a cake, you need certain ingredients. If one of those ingredients is off, the cake doesn’t work,” Fischer explains. “When you start incorporating food waste, that recipe becomes extremely important.”

With the recipe determined, moisture management is the next concern. Decomposition is fastest during the early stages, when cells get saturated and burst, generating heat and breaking down the materials. It’s a balance. Too much liquid cuts off airflow and initiates “aromatic” anaerobic digestion. Too little stunts activity.

Regular turning for aeration helps maintain a temperature between 130 and 150°F. Those temperatures kill off harmful bacteria, like e. coli and salmonella. Along the way, the windrows of compost-in-the-making are closely monitored. With steam rising, the site smells like farm-fresh earth—a scent which, unlike the putrid perfumes of anaerobic decomposition, doesn’t travel.

The greatest accolade Ag Choice receives comes in the form of backhanded compliments. Nearly everyone who discovers that the facility is there is surprised. “Most people think of garbage, food waste, as an extremely odorous ‘I’m-going-to- die-if-I-smell-it’ kind of thing,” Jay says. “When I bring them out to the compost site, and I turn it, they’re amazed at how it doesn’t smell like rotting garbage. We don’t add any chemicals. We don’t add any inoculants. It’s really what is already there and balancing that recipe.”

He sees his business as providing a model that could light the way for other small- to mid-size players in the state.

“I am most inspired by the dedication of the Ag Choice leadership and employees to help us continue to innovate to make recycling easier and more effective,” says Judith Diallo-Barmettler, Sustainability Manager at Nespresso USA. “We never sit still when it comes to sustainability—we always want to do more. Ag Choice shares this mindset and approach.”

“MOST PEOPLE THINK OF GARBAGE, FOOD WASTE, AS AN EXTREMELY ODOROUS ‘I’M-GOING-TO-DIE-IF-I-SMELL-IT’ KIND OF THING. WHEN I BRING THEM OUT TO THE COMPOST SITE, AND I TURN IT, THEY’RE AMAZED AT HOW IT DOESN’T SMELL LIKE ROTTING GARBAGE.”
—Jay Fischer

A MATTER OF REGULATIONS

Through the years, Ag Choice expanded. In addition to processing food waste and selling ancillary commodities, the company provides food items that are used as part of a balanced, organic livestock feed recipe by local farms. “This is part of the evolution of Ag Choice,” Jay explains. “We originally started off strictly composting livestock manure with some food waste. Then we started expanding different feedstocks for the composting process. Now, we are able to recycle stretch wrap and pallets from our incoming palletized food waste.”

Fischer is proud that their site fills its 30-cubic-yard trash compactor just once every several months. “That’s how far we’ve been able to take the recycling.” Filled with 10-15 tons of material, a warehouse or grocery store might fill one every week or two.

Since 2006, Ag Choice has diverted nearly 26 million pounds of organic material from New Jersey that would have been landfill-bound, working with clients including Nespresso and the local ShopRite chain. Seven million pounds of material was sourced from Sussex County, where the Nespresso recycling stats are logged, and an additional 7 million was recycled from Pennsylvania and New York.

All told, Ag Choice diverted nearly 205.3 million pounds of food waste through the end of 2018.

Given New Jersey’s legislatively backed goal of a 50% food-waste reduction by 2030, that has big implications. An estimated 22% of the waste stream is comprised of food, according to EPA reporting. The Ag Choice–Nespresso partnership illustrates how potential is unlocked when creative solutions are supported.

According to Nespresso’s 2017 sustainability report entitled “The Positive Cup,” 24.6% of their capsules worldwide were recycled in 2017, an increase of two percentage points over 2016. In January 2019, they were the first coffee company to be ASI certified for a commitment to aluminum stewardship, including sourcing and recycling.

Yet, as they look ahead, the Fischers wonder if New Jersey has sufficient infrastructure in place to meet its aggressive goals. While everyone has a role in combatting food waste, from homeowners to corporations, industrial producers have an outsized ability to move the needle. Still, securing affordable permits remains challenging.

Since opening Ag Choice, the Fischers have operated under a series of Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) permits, which are significantly less expensive than the Class-C solid waste permits that would otherwise be required. Currently, there is no differentiation within that structure based on size—that is, the volume of materials processed. The Fischers say this makes it difficult for smaller players to enter the market.

The regulatory backdrop to recycling in New Jersey involves a fine balance, explains Marie Kruzan. She serves as Executive Director of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers, which brings together stakeholders with shared interest in sustainable materials management. “As recycling has gone bigger and become more engrained, there are more regulations, too. Sometimes those are a hinderance, and sometimes those are good,” she explains, noting that a series of food-waste facilities opened and closed since Ag Choice was born.

Nevertheless, Kruzan sees rewards in persistence. “It’s a raw material to make something new. It’s finding something that was formerly a throwaway and making it a valuable commodity.”

Thinking about the future, Jay Fischer is contemplative. “Other composters that want to do open-air windrows like we are? All the data that we have gathered would basically be a written handbook on how to do this,” he says. “The number of facilities that could be fed by available food waste is tremendous.” In a state dense with food manufacturers, the next Nespresso seeking to advance its sustainability mission is likely hiding just up the Turnpike.

3 QUESTIONS

Judith Diallo-Barmettler, Sustainability Manager, Nespresso USA
 

What inspired Nespresso to focus on capsule recycling as part of its “positive cup” vision?

Sustainability is a business imperative for Nespresso and a core part of our strategy from coffee sourcing to post consumer use. Our ultimate goal is to ensure each cup of coffee has a positive impact on the world. When it comes to recycling, we choose aluminum because it is the best material to protect the quality and freshness of our coffee and can be recycled and reused over and over again. We are committed to making it as simple and convenient as possible for consumers to recycle their used Nespresso capsules.

What role has Ag Choice played in helping the brand advance its sustainability goals?

Ag Choice is a key partner in helping us provide recycling solutions for our consumers that ensure our capsules have a second life. Once our used capsules reach Ag Choice, the aluminum is processed and ultimately reused to produce new products. The coffee grounds are turned into nutrient-rich compost and topsoil. This helps us achieve our broader objectives of promoting the sustainable production and circular use of aluminum.

What has Nespresso learned about the power of sustainable choices that could serve as inspiration for other manufacturers?

Our work with Ag Choice demonstrates the power of partnerships to address ongoing sustainability challenges and opportunities. We continue to see growing momentum around the transition to a circular economy, which is promising. The private sector plays a crucial role in developing solutions at scale that allow us to collectively make a sustainable difference for our communities and the planet.