Keurig Promises To Make K-Cups More Earth Friendly

[Kevin]

Keurig, makers of one of my absolute favorite kitchen gizmos, has posted to their website a pledge that they will be working on making their K-Cup single server offering packs a little bit more Earth friendly.

It is the only thing that has always nagged at me when making coffee with the device, throwing the little plastic cup into the trash instead of the recycle bin. The current design of their cups doesn't allow for a clean separation of the components that would be required for it to be accepted by most recycle centers but it sounds like they finally got the hint, after numerous complaints, to do something about it.

Reducing the environmental impact of our packaging materials and brewing systems is a top priority for Keurig. It is a challenge to create a portion pack that is recyclable and delivers an extraordinary cup of coffee; however, Keurig is actively working to meet this challenge head on.

The K-Cup® package is made up of three main elements — the cup itself, a filter and an aluminum foil top. The polyethylene coating of the foil - as well as the process of heat-sealing the various elements - makes recycling difficult.

The portion pack composition prevents oxygen, light and moisture from degrading the coffee. Without the barrier the packaging materials provide, we could not maintain quality or freshness.