The project, which began last November in Cascais and has already expanded to Guimarães, is now arriving in Lisbon, with plans made to grow to Cantanhede and Almada.

Promoted by six companies representing 13 coffee brands, the project aims to incentivise the Portuguese to join the mission, a statement by the AICC declared.

3.8 tons of capsules have already been collected in Cascais council between November 25th, 2022, and May 31st of this year, and collection points have been installed in the 48 parishes of Guimarães since the beginning of June.

Lisbon already has three portable recycling bins at disposal that will cover 24 parishes, allowing local drinkers of coffee from capsules of all brands on the market to “effectively and wholly recycle their favourite coffee and give it new life.”

Carlos Moedas, the mayor of Lisbon, was stated in the note to have called the project “another step in the decarbonisation of Lisbon,” reminding that the battle against climate change “is fought with large, transformative projects which imply significant investments,” namely with “day-to-day actions” which have an ability to “mobilise citizens to the cause we all share.”

Secretary-general of the AICC, Cláudia Pimentel, explained that initially the “best solution” was thought to be to incorporate the capsules into the yellow recycling bins, “but they’d go to the landfill and wouldn’t end up being recycled.

“As such, thanks to the congregation of the efforts of these six companies and to the intense collaboration between an ever-growing list of municipalities, we opted for the dedicated collection solution for capsules, taking recycling to the doors of every coffee capsule consumer in Portugal,” she added.

Bellissimo, Bogani, Buondi Caffè, DeltaQ, Chave D’Ouro, Nescafé Dolce Gusto, Nespresso, Nicola, Segafredo, Sica, Starbucks, Torrié and UCC are the brands taking part in the project.