Coffee Pods: A Trashy Dilemma

According to Vanessa Rancaño of the East Bay Express, "Single-cup brewing is the hottest and most lucrative sector of the coffee market nationwide, but it's also producing massive amounts of trash." Sales are projected to reach as much as $6.6 billion by 2016.  One of the main reasons this is such a phenomenon is that "single-cup systems offer a near-irresistible trifecta: convenience, consistency, and variety," says the East Bay Express. 

It is a toxic industry not just because hot, cheap plastic is released into your coffee with every serving, but the very convenience sell - the 'use it and toss it in the trash' selling point - is causing over 15 billion cheap plastic single-use containers to be thrown into the trash every year worldwide.  According to SmartPlanet.com's Bulletin, that equals 100s of millions of pounds of "pod" trash is entering landfills annually.  And this trash is NOT recyclable.  According to the website EnvironmentalLeader.com, an "estimated 9.1 billion single-serve coffee and drink cartridges wind up in US landfills alone, amounting to some 19 million cubic feet of waste."

How can we address this and make a difference?  Well, obvious answer is to wake up and (responsibly) dispose of that ridiculous single-cup coffee maker and start brewing freshly roasted, organic coffee!  (But we all know THAT's not going to happen).  Here are some more actually viable means to address this trashy dilemma:

1. Use a re-usable coffee pod made of BPA-free plastic, like the EkoBrew.  It's under $10 on Amazon.  You can put your own coffee in it (like Wise Coffee!) and it will be able to be used and re-used for a long time.  Keurig also sells a refillable K-Cup filter."
2. A company called OneCoffee is using biodegradable capsules.  Biome Bioplastics’ biodegradable coffee pods can also provide a sustainable packaging alternative.  Canterbury Coffee is a OneCoffee client.
3. Swiss Coffee Co. is also selling compostable capsules for its Beanarella brewing system.
4. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters subsidiary Keurig, "has been searching for a way to combat claims of unsustainability," Rancaño wrote. "In 2011, the company started a pilot-scale take-back program for corporate customers, where coffee grounds are sent to a compost facility and the rest of the materials incinerated in a waste-to-energy plant.