Convenience has a price: ban the K-Cup

Keurig founder, John Sylvan has estimated that a single K-cup machine can create 10 times more waste than a conventional drip brewer.

In 2015, it is hard to imagine widespread consumer support for a product that is not manufactured with sustainability in mind. Yet, that is the case with the K-cup. Popular doesn't seem like an adequate description of this program - the K-Cup's status is closer to ubiquity. Keurig Green Mountain's annual revenues have climbed to almost $5 billion, up more than five-fold in five years, largely by selling billions of K-Cups every year. 

Keurig dominates what's come to be a large and growing market. Research firm NPD Group recently estimated that about 40 per cent of Canadian homes have a single-serving coffee machine, and Canadians spent $95 million on them last year. That's a lot of coffee, and a lot of waste. 

In 2014 alone, more than 10 billion K-cups were sold, which is enough to circle the earth approximately 12 times. According to Keurig Green Mountain Chief Sustainability Officer Monique Oxender “Those [K-cups] are fully recyclable.” And, every new K-Cup spin-off product that the company has introduced since 2006 is recyclable, if a person is willing to disassemble them into paper, plastic, and metal components.

While the claim of being recyclable may be true as an overarching statement, product inventor John Sylvan points out some problems with this logic. According to Sylvan, the plastic is a specialized product made of four layers and the cups are made from plastic #7, a mix that is recyclable in only a handful of cities in Canada. And because the K-Cup is made of that plastic integrated with a filter, grounds, and plastic foil top, there is no easy way to separate the components for recycling. Sylvan astutely points out that “a Venn diagram would likely have little overlap between people who pay for the ultra-convenience of K-Cups and people who care enough to painstakingly disassemble said cups after use.”

Brilliant observation.

At this point in production, Keurig Green Mountain pledges to have fully recyclable K-Cups by 2020. Based on current consumption rates, that would mean at minimum, an additional 50 billion non-recyclable K-Cups will be sold and disposed of in the meantime. And, with a company mission to have “A Keurig brewer on every counter and a beverage for every occasion,” it does not seem as though sustainability is top of mind within this organization.

Aside from the environmental implications, brewing single serving coffee in a household is expensive. According to The National, it is about twice as expensive as purchasing a regular package of coffee. And truly, how difficult is it to brew a pot of coffee or use a kettle to make a cup of tea?

I am all for convenience and certainly consume products that leave an environmental footprint, but, I find it tremendously irresponsible as a consumer to support a new product that is designed with such a negative environmental impact. This is an addiction. Not to caffeine but to convenience. 

Sign this petition to show your support for brewing your own beverages in a more sustainable manner and keeping the k-cups out of the landfill. 

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Image: K Cup Corral by Patrick Gensel licensed under Creative Commons.