Kill the K-Cup: Video illustrates horrors of coffee-pod waste

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      You may have already heard about growing concerns about the landfill problems that single-serve coffee capsules are creating.

      If you haven't, a video by a Nova Scotian production studio has created an entertaining way to raise awareness about the issue involving disposable, non-recyclable coffee pods like those popularized by Keurig, known as K-Cups.

      The capsules are estimated to generate approximately 966 million pounds of waste each year.

      Other estimations claim that the total number of K-Cups discarded in 2013 could circle the earth more than 10 times.

      The video, made by Halifax-based Egg Studios with Social Bean Gourmet Coffee Co., is entitled "Kill the K-Cup". It's shot in a handheld-camera style akin to monster-survival movies like Cloverfield. It captures innocent Canadian civilians attacked by the horrors unleashed by uncontrolled coffee-pod waste.

      The video was released in conjunction with a website that's linked to a petition demanding that Keurig develop a 100-percent recyclable cup now.

      Keurig Green Mountain, which isn't quite as green as its name yet, plans to make all of its K-Cups recyclable by 2020.

      In Canada, the company has established programs in Vancouver, Kamloops, and Toronto for users to return used K-Cup packs to their delivery driver so that they can be transformed into alternative fuel.

      Some recyclable pods have been released by Canadian companies. Last year, Ontario-based Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee launched a recyclable EcoCup for tea, with plans to release a coffee-version this year. Richmond-based Canterbury Coffee introduced a 90-precent biodegradable coffee pod last year as well.

      Now, if we could get someone take action against people who throw recyclable materials into garbage bins sitting right next to recycling containers...

      Comments

      8 Comments

      CuJo Calgary

      Jan 14, 2015 at 1:18pm

      Our Nespresso pod are 100% recyclable and we make sure they get recycled. That was a key factor in choosing our system.

      A better cup.

      Jan 14, 2015 at 1:45pm

      People and their rush to buy the next electric gadget..
      A French press makes a better cup of coffee than a K cup ever could, and the coffee grounds go right into the compost.
      Only want on cup at a time? Get a one-cup press.

      @CuJo

      Jan 14, 2015 at 1:56pm

      good job!

      single serve cups and single shot pods are the devil's playthings... at the landfill!

      RUK

      Jan 14, 2015 at 2:42pm

      They also get gummed up and dirty.

      For taste and convenience, it's hard to go wrong with putting fresh grounds in a reusable or recyclable filter and pouring boiling water over em. Makes a great cup, and cleanup is a snap.

      doran 6

      Jan 14, 2015 at 4:38pm

      great job :)

      MArgaret

      Jan 15, 2015 at 2:56am

      i think the men that put this Video was quite harsh against the K-Cup Co. The violence in it was not acceptable. What about all the other companies that continue to litter our streets ,nothing being one about that. K-cup has a reusable cup,you fill yourself for the machine,but that's for people who are not too lazy to fill it themselves. It's a sad world when you use brain power to come up with the like if this! Sad,Very Sad.

      Cathy

      Feb 18, 2015 at 3:49pm

      This is a great and entertaining way to make a point. I was just remembering all the cigarette butts that used to litter the sidewalks, roads, beaches, grounds around park benches, dumped car ashtrays wherever. Banning smoking in most public spaces worked. Let's do the same for K Cups!

      Cathy

      Feb 18, 2015 at 3:50pm

      I should have added - ban K Cups and the machines that use them.