MONTREAL (RecyclingMonster): Westchester County, New York, has expanded its curbside recycling program to accept used Nespresso coffee capsules and other small, non-ferrous aluminum items from more than 900,000 residents served by the county's Refuse Disposal District.

The expansion follows an investment by Nespresso in recycling infrastructure serving the district. Residents can now place eligible small aluminum items directly in their curbside recycling bins alongside other accepted metal, glass, carton and plastic recyclables.

The Refuse Disposal District, managed by the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities, provides recycling and refuse-disposal services for 36 municipalities and encompasses about 90% of the county's population.

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The additional aluminum will be processed at the Department of Environmental Facilities Material Recovery Facility in Yonkers.

According to the Glass Packaging Institute, smaller recyclable metals, plastics and paper can be lost during the initial sorting process and end up in material destined for glass recycling. The equipment investment is intended to improve recovery of those small-format materials and direct them to their appropriate recycling pathways.

The approach is also intended to reduce the amount of non-glass material entering the glass recycling stream while increasing recovery of recyclable aluminum.

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Nespresso Vice President of Operations Melania Luna said the company's work with Westchester County, the Glass Packaging Institute and the U.S. Aluminum Association is intended to make small aluminum items easier to capture through existing municipal recycling infrastructure.

Glass Packaging Institute President Scott DeFife said investments in sorting equipment can help recover smaller recyclable materials that might otherwise enter the glass stream.

The Glass Packaging Institute has also established a Small Format Coalition focused on recovering small metal, plastic and paper packaging from commingled recycling streams while improving the quality of recovered glass.

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The International Aluminium Institute said the Westchester initiative also addresses a broader material-recovery challenge. The organization estimates that close to 8 million metric tons of aluminum go uncollected globally each year, with packaging representing 58% of that total.

IAI is supporting efforts to strengthen demand for recycled aluminum so recovered material can return to productive use.

The Westchester program builds on similar curbside recycling initiatives supported by Nespresso in New York City and Jersey City, where small aluminum capsules have been incorporated into municipal collection and sorting systems.