Ref: The New York Times, Energy & Environment “Keurig’s New K-Cup Coffee Is Recyclable, but Hardly Green” David Gelles, April 15, 2016
The life of the Keurig K-cup is interesting because its rise has by driven by the consumer’s strong desire for excessive convenience and yet historically is remarkably non-environmentally friendly due to their lack of recyclability. According to the article, “reusable K-Cups are also available from Keurig and other manufacturers, but haven’t caught on with convenience-obsessed consumers.” Initially, consumers would complain of a non-recyclable product while sipping their single serve French Vanilla coffee, but recent falling sales due to various online campaigns against the container (including the proclamation that a single year’s sales of the cups would circle the globe 10 times) sparked the initiative from Green Mountain, Keurig’s parent company, to develop a recyclable product. But development was incredibly difficult since it was a backward design with many restrictions related to fit, form and function; the cup had to stay the same shape to fit the existing machines as well as having an easily punctured lid and the ability to keep the coffee from being exposed to oxygen. Still, after several false starts, their designers managed to come up with a product that meets all the requirements by using a new type of plastic, and the intent is to transition fully to the new cups by 2020. According to Keurig’s website, “polypropylene #5 plastic ... performs well in our brewing system, is accepted for recycling in a majority of communities in the United States and Canada, and is in high demand as a recovered material.” However, there remain those who doubt as to whether the effort may not have been wasted at least from a true sustainability viewpoint since the cup is not compostable or reusable and will require extra effort from the convenience-driven consumer to remove the lid and wash out the pots – a dirty and time consuming process. Not that true sustainability may have been the goal however – in this case the perception of moving toward a more sustainable product may be more important in order to recover falling sales in an expanding market (a cynical viewpoint that may or may not be proven out with time). Certainly, the Keurig website suggests that they are trying to overcome the problems associated with the extra effort, including developing partnerships with The Association of Plastic Recyclers, and the investment of five million dollars in small item recovery through the Closed Loop Fund. In the end though, perhaps the only way that sustainability may be truly achieved is for consumers to stop purchasing the product altogether and start practicing their French Press.
The life of the Keurig K-cup is interesting because its rise has by driven by the consumer’s strong desire for excessive convenience and yet historically is remarkably non-environmentally friendly due to their lack of recyclability. According to the article, “reusable K-Cups are also available from Keurig and other manufacturers, but haven’t caught on with convenience-obsessed consumers.” Initially, consumers would complain of a non-recyclable product while sipping their single serve French Vanilla coffee, but recent falling sales due to various online campaigns against the container (including the proclamation that a single year’s sales of the cups would circle the globe 10 times) sparked the initiative from Green Mountain, Keurig’s parent company, to develop a recyclable product. But development was incredibly difficult since it was a backward design with many restrictions related to fit, form and function; the cup had to stay the same shape to fit the existing machines as well as having an easily punctured lid and the ability to keep the coffee from being exposed to oxygen. Still, after several false starts, their designers managed to come up with a product that meets all the requirements by using a new type of plastic, and the intent is to transition fully to the new cups by 2020. According to Keurig’s website, “polypropylene #5 plastic ... performs well in our brewing system, is accepted for recycling in a majority of communities in the United States and Canada, and is in high demand as a recovered material.” However, there remain those who doubt as to whether the effort may not have been wasted at least from a true sustainability viewpoint since the cup is not compostable or reusable and will require extra effort from the convenience-driven consumer to remove the lid and wash out the pots – a dirty and time consuming process. Not that true sustainability may have been the goal however – in this case the perception of moving toward a more sustainable product may be more important in order to recover falling sales in an expanding market (a cynical viewpoint that may or may not be proven out with time). Certainly, the Keurig website suggests that they are trying to overcome the problems associated with the extra effort, including developing partnerships with The Association of Plastic Recyclers, and the investment of five million dollars in small item recovery through the Closed Loop Fund. In the end though, perhaps the only way that sustainability may be truly achieved is for consumers to stop purchasing the product altogether and start practicing their French Press.
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