The single-serve coffee brewing pods have catastrophic effects on the environment; made of a polystyrene/EVOH/polyethylene polymer blend, the Keurig K-Cups are non-recyclable.
Cindy Luppi, environmentalist at Clean Water Action, criticized K-Cups in 2011, saying, “Our concern is that they are not recyclable. That means they end up in the landfills and incinerators, and impact our health. The emissions end up in the air we breathe and the water we drink”. Luppi further explained, “It’s hard to recycle because of the multiple materials. First, there is the plastic cup. Then, there is an aluminum foil top that keeps the coffee fresh inside of the K-Cup. Also inside of the K-Cup is a separate filter. It’s also typically too small to be recycled. The trend is that larger materials are accepted typically in recycling programs”.
The inventor of Keurig K-Cups, John Sylvan, recently admitted that K-Cups do have a disastrous impact on the environment. He also accepted that at around 60 cents per cup, K-Cups were expensive. He regretted selling his share of Green Mountain Coffee back in 1997 for just $50,000. Sales of the plastic and aluminum K-Cups sky-rocketed with far-reaching consequences for the planet thereafter: they account for a large majority of Green Mountain Coffee’s $4.7bn in revenue each year.
A YouTube video titled ‘Kill the K-Cup’, aimed at educating coffee drinkers about the dire consequences of using K-Cups, went viral in January 2015. The two-and-a-half-minute video shows flying monsters and aircraft made of K-Cups shoot K-Cups down onto people cowering in the streets filled with empty K-Cups.
The video drove the point home with data: Single-use coffee pod system sales have increased by 600% since 2008, and show no signs of slowing. In 2014, there were enough discarded K-Cups to circle the planet Earth 10.5 times. Almost all of them ended up in landfills.
Alternatives?
Biodegradable K-Cups: http://www.sanfranciscobaycoffee.com/index.php/onecup-for-keurig-coffee-machines/
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