A Waste Collection Company Explains Why Keurig’s New Recyclable Coffee Pods May Cause More Harm Than Good

Keurig’s coffee machines have become extremely popular in Canada and for its neighbours, taking a place in millions of homes across the nation. While the coffee brewing process is convenient for users, the huge amount of waste it leaves behind is not.

The used coffee bean pods made specially for the company are beginning to pile up in North American dumps everywhere. To combat this issue, Keurig is now introducing pods made from recyclable material. It sounds like the perfect solution until you dig a little deeper.

The polypropylene No. 5 that makes up the majority of the pods is not accepted in all Canadian blue waste bins; larger cities tend to refuse it. This can pose a problem, especially because more than half of Keurig users are legitimately concerned about how their machine will impact the environment once its life is over. Of course, the coffee pods are still being purchased by most consumers simply due to their simplicity.

Unfortunately, even the new recyclable pods still produce some waste that is neither recyclable nor compostable, and each used pod must be deconstructed before the polypropylene portion of it can be recycled - if your city accepts the material in its blue bins. It’s very likely that consumers won’t bother taking apart their used pods, opting to toss them in the trash just as they did before.

 Used Nespresso pods in Montreal can be put into a bin reserved for them, and once those bins are taken to the waste collection recycling facility, Nespresso deals with them there. Similarly, Recycle BC in British Columbia enables the recycling of the province’s used coffee pods, though not many Keurig users take advantage of this.

Another possible option is to make the coffee pods completely compostable. With the right build and materials, it could work. In fact, a handful of companies have tried it over the past few years. These pods were considered compostable, but they couldn’t be put into most green bins because they didn’t break down quickly enough to be combined with other organic matter.

Upon realizing how slowly the compostable coffee pods broke down, Halifax banned its residents from putting them into their green waste bins. The city does, however, allow consumers to deconstruct their pods and recycle the parts of them that are plastic. With the ambiguous disposal rules and extra effort to take them apart, it’s no wonder these pods are the subject of a tricky plastic versus compost debate.

If the company opts for compostable coffee pods, they need to meet green bin standards in cities across Canada. If they instead choose polypropylene, they’ll need to make it clear to buyers that the plastic may not be recyclable in their area, and if it is, they must take the pods apart in order to properly dispose of each component.

Whatever Keurig and its partners choose, it needs to be environmentally friendly to some degree, and consumers must be willing to follow the rules if the company wants to keep it that way.