Environmental Impact of K-Cup® Pods

Truth About Single Serve Brewing

Coffee.  It’s how millions of us start every day.  More and more of us are using convenient Keurig® brewers and K-Cup® pods to deliver our delicious morning brew. The truth is most people are not aware that those little pods are not recyclable when they are intact.  Sadly, most of these pods end up in landfills, not decomposing.  This is a growing and significant environmental concern.  Just look at the numbers*:

• Nearly 30% of US households own a single serve brewer
• An estimated 20 billion pods will be consumed this year and most will wind up in landfills
• That’s enough waste to circle the earth over 12 times

Now, the reality is these pods CAN be re-purposed or recycled if the plastic, aluminum and coffee grounds are separated using our Recycle A Cup® cutter.  In just a few simple steps, you will be able to use the grinds as compost and recycle the rest of the pod…it’s just that simple! * National Coffee Data Trends 3/22/13; Green Lodging News 8/9/15