POWDERS AND/OR COFFEE PODS

The present invention refers, generally, to a container for the collection of exhausted coffee powder, capsules and coffee pods.

The invention further relates to a method for collecting used coffee powder and used coffee pods and capsules, according to which the used coffee powder and the capsules and the pods are subsequently processed for recycling and for a new use.

More in particular, the invention relates to a smart vase for household, which incorporates a vacuum system for the collection of grounds and/or coffee powder (exhausted coffee), or capsules and coffee pods, as well as a protocol that defines precisely times, technical equipment and operational methodologies for each single phase, which preside over the operations of collection, separation, processing of the types of waste, sale of products generated with the processing activities of the used coffee powder and the capsules and coffee pods used ( recycling).

The smart vase is composed of a cylindrical component or other forms, preferably made of plastic material, divided into two parts and closed in the lower part; a cover with magnetic closure, always preferably made of plastic material, is suitable for closing the upper part of the cylindrical component.

Moreover, the cylindrical or other form is housed on a base support, also preferably made of plastic material, on which a "vacuum" motor is inserted for the suction of the air inside the cylindrical component or other form and various electronic components for system management and/or other functionalities. The function of the smart vase, according to the present invention, is to allow the user to have a suitable container for the collection of grounds and/or coffee powder (exhausted coffee) and/or pods or capsules, when, for example in the house, the classic "Moka" coffee maker is used to make coffee drinks and/or when used, in the house or office, coffee capsules or coffee pods within the electric machines dedicated to the delivery of coffee.

There are various types of machines on the market to create the vacuum of food, which is usually machines that operate horizontally and are designed to create the vacuum of food placed in plastic bags, for their preservation; however, there are currently no vases and/or containers in general, within which a vacuum is made for the functionalities provided for by the present invention.

The problem that to be solve with this type of "smart" vase is to have a container for the collection of grounds and/or coffee powder (exhausted coffee) and/or coffee capsules and/or pods, to be installed at home (for families) and/or in offices, as the first element of an industrial process (protocol), whose purpose, is the disposal of the above mentioned materials and the reuse of both the used coffee and the plastic parts and/or in aluminum capsules or pods to create electricity or heat or pellets to power heating systems or with other functions such as the production of energy gas.

According to the invention, technologically advanced activities are also planned in the planning and management of purchases of the coffee product, and, in particular, of the portioned coffee in capsules and pods, by the user.

The function and purpose of the present invention, which constitutes a real protocol, are to establish a method that becomes a procedural and process standard for the collection and subsequent processing of a type of waste (exhausted coffee powder, capsules and coffee pods used), which currently, due to its friction, is not managed in an appropriate and consistent way to protect the environment.

Thanks to the present protocol of collection and the containers used, the coordinated and circular activities provided therein are instead in line with the UNI EN ISO 14040: 2006 standards, related to the life cycle of a product, designed to help quantify, interpret and evaluate the environmental impacts of a specific product or service, during the whole lifespan; the assessment includes the entire life cycle of the product, including the extraction and processing of raw materials, manufacture, transport, distribution, use, reuse, recycling and final disposal, as well as the transformation into energy in its different forms.

The international normative reference for the execution of the LCA studies is represented by the following ISO standards of the 14040 series: - UNI EN ISO 14040: 2006 standard - Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Principles and reference framework;

- UNI EN ISO 14044: 2006 standard - Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Requirements and guidelines;

- UNI EN ISO 14064: 2006 standard - Project, development, management and reporting of GHG inventories at an organization level - GHG projects developed specifically to reduce GHG emissions or increase their removal

- Validation or verification processes.

A direct consequence of the evaluation of the life cycle is the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), a voluntary product certification scheme, born in Sweden but of international value, developed an application of the UNI ISO 14025: 2006 standard by title "Environmental labels and declarations - Type III environmental declarations - Principles and procedures"; this declaration contains the requirements and, therefore, the methods and contents of the EPD system.

The present protocol, combined with the collection container used, uses activities and procedures already in place in the collection of waste by specialized companies in industrialized countries and partly by individual activities carried out for the processing of waste in order to reuse and recycle them (for example, plastic reuse and recycling processes), but it assumes a specific value as it defines for the first time innovative methodologies and tools related to the phase of collection of the used coffee powder and the used coffee pods and capsules (phase more critical because fractional), involving all the stakeholders of the life process of these products, starting from the producers, to the users, to the companies specialized in the collection of waste, to the companies or to the individual subjects, who can directly collect these products, is classified as a "secondary by-product", and then re-use the by-products realized with the new processing and/or with the recycling of exhausted coffee powders and used coffee pods and capsules.

In practice, the problem to be solved with this type of procedure, organized in a standard protocol, and with the relative containers used, is to implement the disposal of a product, such as coffee, which, by quantity, is the second product consumed in the world after oil.

Only in Italy, a country among the main consumers in the world, between 5.6 Kg and 6.2 Kg per capita per year of coffee are consumed using Moka coffee makers, single-dose capsules, espresso machines and vending machines ( do not underestimate other related products, such as coffee creams, coffee ice creams, etc.).

The grounds and/or the exhausted coffee powder, collected as wet waste, is then transformed, in most cases, into compost; this practice, if not well done, produces methane that disperses in the atmosphere, increasing the environmental damage of the greenhouse effect.

In addition, the packaging material of the capsules or pods, be it plastic or aluminium, most often ends up in rubbish dump, because it is not possible to activate a recycling process of the packaging material, since the used coffee packages (capsules and/or pods) ) do not have a subdivision between the packaging and the coffee.

Consider further that, in the developed societies, the consumption of ground coffee (ground) is progressively reduced to the benefit of a consumption in capsules or pods, with the consequent increase of the mono packs in aluminium or plastic to be disposed of and a very serious damage, it brings to the environment; in this regard, more and more cities and nations are trying to put a stop to this production by prohibiting, for example, the use of coffee in capsules in public offices. The problem is so serious that it has to urgently find a solution for the full recycling and reuse of the aforementioned capsules or pods, since the quantitative data of only the capsules or pods to be recycled are frightfully high in Italy (almost a billion a year from official data but in reality from calculations based on per capita consumption, the figure is closer to ten billion).

The problem is well known to coffee capsule makers; in fact, some of them have already started campaigns to collect the capsules or pods used (for example, Nespresso® has asked its customers to bring back the capsules or pods used at their single-brand stores and also, in Switzerland, the Post Offices implement a service delivery and collection of exhausted capsules or capsules, on behalf of the same company), but there is currently no protocol for the collection and emptying of the powder, as well as the recycling of plastic and/or aluminum components and the reuse of used coffee powder to create electric or thermal energy or pallets, in order to feed, for example, heating systems, but also the production of other alternative energies, such as syngas.

The current situation, therefore, sees very few producers active in the waste collection of the capsules and/or coffee pods used; on the other hand, companies specializing in the collection of waste do not allocate or cannot allocate direct and specific activities to the treatment of this type of waste, with a consequent serious damage to the environment.

The use of a "smart" vase, which is the object of the present invention, represents the first link of a procedure (or protocol) already defined and also object of the invention, which involves the use of different machines in its different phases, in order to achieve the goals of recycling and intelligent reuse of used coffee powders and their packaging.

The object of the present invention is therefore to obviate the above- mentioned technical and environmental problems and, in particular, to create an "smart" container for the collection of exhausted coffee powder and/or coffee pods and/or pods, to offer in use to each family and/or to be placed in offices, which allows an easy and organized collection of the used coffee powders and coffee capsules and/or coffee pods, without causing the formation of microorganisms (thanks to the vacuum function), and before the same exhausted coffee powders and the used coffee pods or capsules are subsequently poured into appropriate collection containers for the subsequent recycling and reuse activities.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method, organized in a standard protocol, which allows an easy and organized collection of the used coffee powder and of the coffee capsules and/or pods used, then using a sequence of successive processing operations for the reuse and recycling, in order to create electrical or thermal energy or pallets, in order to feed, for example, heating systems. Advantageously, the present invention relates to a multi-component container, including a system for creating the vacuum inside, in order to:

1 . insert in a cylindrical or another form the used coffee grounds and/or coffee pods and/or pods already used; 2. create a vacuum inside the aforementioned cylindrical component or another form of a collection of the grounds and/or of the used coffee powder and/or the capsules and/or pods already used;

3. use a support or base of the cylindrical or other forms for other functionalities, such as, for example, USB2 sockets for charging mobile devices and/or LEDs such as emergency lights, as well as other accessories, such as ambient air ionizer, a digital clock or timer, etc.

Furthermore, the invention relates to a relative procedure or collection protocol, which accurately defines the times, technical equipment and operating methods for each single phase that presides the procedure in question, from the collection, separation, processing of the types of waste, the sale of products generated by the processing of used coffee powder and the packaging of the capsules and coffee pods used (recycling); there are also technologically advanced activities in the planning and management of purchases of the coffee product, in particular, that portioned into capsules and/or pods, so as to create a virtuous relationship between producer and end user, as well as an amplification and enhancement of actions aimed at protecting environment.

The collection process according to the present invention provides the following steps: 1 ) use by households and/or staff employed at the offices of the "smart" container or vase, according to the invention, which has a vacuum system designed to prevent the proliferation of microorganisms and to perform safely the collection of exhausted coffee powder and coffee capsules and coffee pods used;

2) use by bars or other public establishments, of the aforementioned "smart" container or vase, which has a vacuum system designed to prevent the proliferation of microorganisms, a weighing system and a data communication system, via a network WI-FI, to a company specialized in waste collection or other authorized subjects;

3) use of a container with the function of a collection centre for used coffee powders and used coffee pods and capsules, which are transferred to the aforesaid container by emptying the containers used by the families and/or at the offices;

4) dedicated collection for the used coffee powders and for the capsules and coffee pods used by the company specialized in the collection of waste, by collecting and emptying the containers as a collection center and directly at the bar or to other public establishments or producers, in execution of the input received from the logistics management program;

5) separation, by the company specializing in waste collection, of used coffee powder from coffee pods and capsules used or by authorized companies; 6) collection of the two types of waste by a third-party company, which it will carry out

6.1 ) processing of the grounds and/or of the used coffee powders, with specific machinery, for the production of pallets;

6.2) processing of coffee capsules and pods used, with specific machinery, for the separation of the powder present in the casing;

6.3) processing of casings, with specific machinery, for the production of recycled plastic granules and recycled aluminium bales; 6.4) use of pallets produced with used coffee grounds and/or powders, to power machinery that generates biogas, using it for energy production or for motor vehicles;

7) sale of recycled plastic granules and recycled aluminium to companies in the sector for reuse;

8) sale of biogas to private and public companies that use means of transport;

9) sale of pallets both to individuals (packaged) and to companies (silos) that employ systems for generating hot water and electricity through pallets;

10) supply to households and/or staff employed in offices, which consume capsules and/or coffee pods, of a software application aimed at creating purchase orders to the selected producer; these orders will allow you to receive free quantities of capsules and/or pods in proportion to individual consumption in relation to the amount of exhausted coffee powder and capsules and pods used and delivered for recycling.

Further characteristics and advantages of the container for the collection of exhausted coffee powder and/or of capsules and/or coffee pods with a vacuum system and of the collection process, according to the present invention, will be more evident from the description of an embodiment, preferred and exemplifying, but not limiting, and from the attached tables of drawings, where:

- figure 1 is a perspective overall view of the container for the collection of used coffee powder and/or coffee capsules and/or pods, with all its components, according to the present invention; figure 2 is an exploded view of the container of figure 1 , in which the various components, such as the cover, the two cylindrical parts of the container and the base support, according to the present invention, are visible in detail;

- figures 3A, 3B and 3C show three views of three variants or versions of the base support of the container according to figure 1 , according to the invention;

- figure 4 shows a generic view of the steps and instruments used in the collection process, according to the present invention;

- figure 5 shows a view of the phases of collection of exhausted coffee powders and/or coffee capsules and coffee pods used by households, offices, bars or public establishments with bars, with the use of dedicated related items referred to in previous figures and a software application for families and offices, according to the invention;

- figure 6 shows a generic view of the collection phase of exhausted coffee powders and/or coffee capsules and pods used at a collection point where the dedicated containers are stored and a generic view of the equipped truck of the specialized collection company of waste, according to the present invention;

- figure 7 shows a view of the withdrawal phases, by a third-party company, of the used coffee powders and/or coffee capsules and coffee pods used, which are collected by the company specializing in the collection of waste, and processing of two types of waste for the production of pallets, recycled plastic granules, recycled aluminium and biogas, according to the present invention.

With particular reference to the attached figures 1 , 2, 3A, 3B and 3C, the container for the collection of exhausted coffee powder and/or coffee capsules and/or coffee pods or "intelligent" vase (smart) 100, according to this invention, includes: - an upper cover 50, preferably made of plastic material, where an elastic gasket 51 is fixed inside, in order to render hermetic the container 100 when the cover 50 is fixed to a first cylindrical element 10 of the container 100 by means of an interlocking hinge 60 so as to create the vacuum inside the vase 100 by means of the motor for creating vacuum or the "vacuum" motor 32 inserted in the base 30;

- an unblock button 52 and opening valves 53 for restoring the atmospheric pressure, positioned on the cover 50 and suitable for allowing atmospheric air to enter the cylindrical elements 10, 20 of the container 100 when opening of the container 100 is necessary to deposit inside, by the user, the used coffee grounds and/or coffee powder or coffee pods or capsules (which still have moist parts);

- at least a first cylindrical element 10 or other form and at least a second cylindrical element 20, preferably made of plastic material, in which the first (upper) cylindrical element 10 is hollow and has an inner thread 1 1 at its bottom, adapted to couple with a counter-thread 23 formed on the upper wall of the second cylindrical element (lower) 20 of the container 100, so as to achieve a complete closure between the cylindrical elements 10 and 20; the second cylindrical element 20 of the container 100 is open in the upper part, in correspondence of the section 23, while in the lower part there is formed a closed section 22, shaped like an inverted funnel, which has micro-holes, in order to allow the extraction of the air inside the cylindrical elements 10, 20 when the vacuum is formed inside the container 100; furthermore, on the outside and in the lower part of the second cylindrical element 20 a bar code or QR Code 24 is positioned to identify the container 100 during the operation of emptying by the user in the appropriate collection containers and above the closed section 22 there is a removable water-repellent membrane 21 , shaped like the section 23, suitable to prevent the obstruction of the section 22 and the possible passage of water from the cylindrical elements 10, 20 to the base support 30, where a motor 32 is inserted to create the vacuum and the related electronic control 35; finally, the cylindrical elements 10, 20 can also be made in one piece;

- a base support 30, preferably made of plastic material and having a cylindrical or other form, which externally presents various seats which can be perfectly coupled with the shape of the container 100 or of another form for housing an ignition pushbutton 31 and a USB2 36 socket that can be used to charge mobile devices; on the support 30, holes 37 can be made alternatively or in combination with the above-mentioned seats, to allow an ionization function of the environment and/or a series of LEDs 38 which function as emergency lights and/or a clock and/or o timer and/or environmental thermometer 39; the base support 30 has the vacuum motor 32, powered by an electric cable 40 and its current socket 41 or by rechargeable batteries or batteries, a sensor 34, suitable for checking the existence of pressure in the cylindrical elements 10, 20 or another form, of the container 100, and the electronic control 35, with relative firmware, to activate the operation of carrying out the vacuum inside the container 100 on the basis of the data sent by the sensor 34 and according to the functions managed by a special software; inside the support 30, centrally and towards the upper part, a further element 33 is fixed, connected to the vacuum motor 32 and having an inverted funnel design, which is coupled, inside the second cylindrical element 20, to the section 22 with inverted funnel; the element 33 also has, in the upper part, holes, which are adapted to allow the extraction of the air inside the cylindrical elements 10, 20 of the container 100 when the vacuum is made internally.

The operation of the container for collecting used coffee powder and/or coffee pods and/or pods according to the invention is substantially the following.

The user, after having consumed the coffee (produced by a Moka coffee maker and/or an electric machine for capsules or portioned pods), can open the container or cylindrical vase 100 by acting on the release button 52, present on the upper part of the cover 50, which activates the atmospheric air intake valves 53 to allow the atmospheric pressure to be restored in the cylinder 10; consequently, the release of the elastic gasket 51 and the consequent opening of the cover 50 is activated.

Once the container 100 has been opened, it is possible to insert inside it both the used coffee grounds and/or coffee powder or the previously used coffee pods.

After this operation, the user can close the cover 50. At this point, the management software of the vacuum engine 32 provides, at predetermined times, to verify, by means of the pressure sensor 34, the existence of the correct internal depression at the container 100 and, if this pressure value is unsatisfactory, starts the vacuum motor 32 until a predetermined pressure value is reached. Once the vase 100 has been filled, the user proceeds to extract the cylindrical elements 10, 20 from the base support 30, so as to be able to bring the aforesaid cylindrical elements 10, 20 to a suitable collection container for the subsequent recycling and reuse.

Furthermore, the user can easily wash the vase 100 by extracting the support 30, unscrewing the cylindrical elements 10, 20 and removing the water-repellent membrane 21 ; both elements 10, 20 can be washed in the dishwasher, just as the membrane 21 can be hand washed.

Furthermore, the basic support 30 can be extremely useful as the user can choose one of the additional functions, such as the recharging function and/or the emergency light function and/or the room ionizer function and/or clock or timer, etc.

Finally, as an alternative to the use of the motor 32 for the production of the vacuum inside the cylindrical elements 10, 20, it is also possible to use UV-irradiation lamps (ultra-violet) or devices that emit ultrasounds, which are placed in the support 30 and/or in the cylindrical elements 10, 20; all this, similarly to what has been achieved by the vacuum motor 32, in order to eliminate the micro-organisms present in the remains of used coffee and/or inside the capsules or coffee pods.

With particular reference to figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 attached, the Method 100A of collection, organized in a standard protocol in accordance with the UNI EN ISO 14040: 2006 standard, according to the invention, comprises:

- a collection phase for families 2A and/or offices 1 A, using the dedicated vase or container 100, of the used coffee powders and/or the coffee capsules and coffee pods used, as well as a collection phase at the bars or public establishments with bar 3A, of the grounds or of the exhausted coffee powders, using a further dedicated vase or container 100;

- use of a software application 1 1 , by the family 2A or by an employee of the office 1 A, to order coffee capsules and/or coffee pods from a selected manufacturer;

- a phase of emptying the container 100, dedicated to containing the used coffee powders and/or the coffee pods and/or pods used in a collection container 31 A and a phase of emptying the dedicated container 100 used for bars or public establishments with bar 2A at a collection point 30A;

- a withdrawal phase, with an equipped truck 51 A, by a company specializing in the collection of 50A waste, of the used coffee powders 41 A and of the coffee capsules and pods used 40A and a phase of delivery of powders, capsules and/o pods at the company that specializes in the collection of 50A waste;

- a withdrawal from the waste collection company 50A, by means of a dedicated truck 61 A, of powders, capsules and/or pods, by a third party 60A, specialized in the subsequent processing of the two types of waste, namely used coffee powder 41 A and used coffee capsules and pods 40A;

- a processing phase carried out by the third party 60A specialized, which allows the production of recycled plastic granules 62A, recycled aluminium bales 63A, pallets 65A and biogas 64A, starting from coffee powder 41 A and capsules and pods 40A.

The invention thus conceived and illustrated herein is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept of the appended claims. Furthermore, all the details may be replaced by other technically equivalent elements.

Finally, the components used, so long as they are compatible with the specific use, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art. Where the characteristics and techniques mentioned in any claim are followed by reference marks, such reference marks have been attached for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and, consequently, these reference marks have no limiting effect on the claims, interpretation of each element identified by way of example from these reference marks.