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K-Cup creator John Sylvan regrets inventing Keurig coffee pod system
- SonnyWortzik 8y agobiodegradable cups? Is that possible?
- canadianwriter 8y agoreusable filters work great - just dump the grinds in the compost.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- slantyyz 8y agoIIRC, they've transitioned (or are in the middle of transitioning) to recyclable cups. I believe you can green bin the contents (if you have that service where you live), and recycle the plastic container, with the foil seal being the only thing that goes to landfill.
- giarc 8y agoTo be honest, who is going to actually separate all 3 of those pieces? In Canada, President's Choice (among others) makes a fully compostable k cup that is about $0.50/pod.
- makerofspoons 8y agoSan Francisco Bay Coffee makes some: https://www.sanfranciscobaycoffee.com/index.php/onecup-for-keurig-coffee-machines/ https://www.sanfranciscobaycoffee.com/index.php/onecup-for-k...
- bg4 8y agoAvailable in bulk from Costco. We use these for this reason.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- serpestrilvith 8y agoYeah, we had them at my last office. They were made of a paper lid, fiber bag like filter for the grounds, and then a small ring of compostable plastic for rigidity. Worked great, but even more expensive than the normal K-cups. We ended up going back to making big pots of coffee because it's easy enough, cheap, and usually tastier.
- pastor_elm 8y agoThe k-cup is genius. There are 5 people over your house. They can all make a cup of coffee whenever they want. They want more? Just make another cup. They can do it themselves!
- nostrebored 8y agoThis is so lazy -- coffee is so easy to make, why add the trash?
- daniel5151 8y agoWhoosh
- canadianwriter 8y agoI used to have a Keurig but instead had a refillable filter - instead of pods I just filled the filter with whatever coffee I wanted. Still super convenient, easy for just one cup of coffee, no waste.
- xellisx 8y agoI've had issues with several of the reusable cups. Metals ones would let some particulate through, the paper ones would end up tearing. Plus my experience when I owned a Kurig was not pleasant at the end, with exploding K-Cups.
- giarc 8y agoI've used a plastic one for probably 2 or 3 years now. Came in a pack of two for about $20. Keurig even makes their own now, so it would likely work quite well.
- reaperducer 8y agoMy Keurig even came with the re-fillable cup. But only the 8-ounce size. I had to order the carafe size from a third-party on Amazon.
- maxxxxx 8y agoThe K-cup should get an award for worst invention of the last few decades. They turned making coffee from a process with easily compostable output into a massive trash production. Business-wise they are genius though. Take something and make it ten times as expensive.
- dpflan 8y agoFrom the article: "According to a wildly popular ad campaign against the product earlier this year, there are so many discarded K-Cups that if you lined them up it would be enough to circle the earth more than 10 times — and that's just from one year's worth of coffee pods." Yes. I think the incentives to have a sustainable/ethical design in the context of reducing waste or recycling waste would be a good incentive for products/service/companies like this. Could there be a subsidy for companies that take the time to manage their products/design/supply-chain to combat wastefulness/negative externalities of using the product/service? For example, Apple appears to be taking the environmental impact of their business seriously: > https://www.apple.com/environment/ https://www.apple.com/environment/
- dima55 8y agoApple practically invented the concept of "planned obsolescence". They are also the people who pioneered the idea of non-removable batteries in laptops and phones, and they are so antagonistic to people repairing their hardware that they invented extra pain-in-the-ass screws. Let's not hold them up as some sort of beacon of environmental stewardship, ok?
- oneplane 8y agoFixed batteries are nothing new, anti-tampering screws are nothing new, and trying to prevent more support cases by limiting the things customers can break is also nothing new. What is new is the polarization over technology brands and people using arguments on things they pretty much know nothing about and have no experience with.
- 8y ago
- jpmoyn 8y agoI remembered this headline from years ago. The article is from 2015, does that warrant you adding a year to the title?
- huangc10 8y agothis
- Cuuugi 8y agoMy take away from this is that he sold out for $50,000. Not the best investment "screw up story" but it made my day.
- giarc 8y agoI wonder if he would be singing a different tune if he was now worth $500 million or something.
- sxates 8y agoSurprised there's no mention of Nespresso's system, which uses aluminum pods that are recyclable. The 'pod per cup' system is very convenient, but I cringe at all the waste of the Keurig k-cups. Nespresso sold me though on their recycling program (fill a bag with the used pods and mail it to them for free).
- sschueller 8y agoThere is also no DRM.
- stcredzero 8y agoI was also going to mention Nespresso's pods. As far as I can see, they're just some vacuum packed grounds between two foil membranes. The amount contained seems a bit smaller than what's in an Aeropress scoop, but because of the square/cube law, the amount in an Aeropress scoop wouldn't be that much larger. What about an automated version of Aeropress that forced the same amount of hot water and hot air/steam through a Nespresso-like pod? It could have adjustable temperature and press times, and should make coffee indistinguishable from an Aeropress. This would eliminate the one disadvantage of the Aeropress: it's quite easy but not quite as convenient as putting in a pod and pressing a button.
- steve19 8y agoAre the third party refillable pods pretty much the same thing?
- stcredzero 8y agoYou mean for Keurig like machines? Whatever happens with Keurig pods, there's a big difference in something that results in far inferior coffee. I've never played around with grinding my own and putting it in a refillable K-Cup pod, however. My experience in Tuscany in the mid 2000's, was that random corner store espresso wasn't bad or was pretty good and rarely had any bitterness. So if the pods are filled and sealed correctly, there should be a way of getting a result far superior to what Keurig machines typically yield.
- type-2 8y agoI would assume the margins are crazy on this. I guess this is how you do profitable hardware
- PascLeRasc 8y agoRelevant: https://blog.bolt.io/keurig-accidentally-created-the-perfect-business-model-for-hardware-startups-18e9c3b4e796 https://blog.bolt.io/keurig-accidentally-created-the-perfect... Keurig created a hardware sales model orthogonal to printers. That is, people are excited to buy the recurring element (pods) and accept that the several-hundred-dollar device is just a means to an end. They don't feel ripped off, compared to buying printer ink that costs nearly as much as a new printer.
- zachguo 8y agoInvent a better one again then. Biodegradable filter plus reusable cup.
- cm2012 8y agoPhysical waste is not a real issue. A landfill 10 miles square and 250 ft deep could hold all of the US's waste for the next hundred years. Twenty of these (Which could fit without people taking notice in any rural area) can hold the whole world's garbage for next 100 years.
- deadmik3 8y agobut when you say "all the discarded k-cups could wrap around the earth 10 times" it sounds like that takes up a lot more space because people can't possibly visualize the size difference between a k-cup and the equator it's like wrapping dental floss around a skyscraper the size of a slightly smaller earth
- j-c-hewitt 8y agoNo, but it's a spiritual concern that people like to signal their virtue over. Don't try to bring reason into this: it's about the soul!
- derefr 8y agoI assume the reason this doesn’t happen is that the land value in first-world countries is too high (i.e. everywhere you’d want to put the landfill, someone wants to do something else with it and is willing to pay more than the landfill is worth to the municipality/state/country that wants to put it there.) And putting the landfill in developing countries (or rather, formalizing the landfill, since we already informally do that) wouldn’t change much, since we would still need a system of trash barges and so forth to get it there. Also, presumably, we expect these developing countries to, well, develop, at which point their land values will also become high. Eventually, there will be no piece of land on earth with low-enough “rent” for us to just stick trash on. We’ll have globally gentrified the landfill into homelessness.
- cm2012 8y agoThis does happen now. Very few countries have a shortage of landfill space now so there's no pressure to build even bigger ones that would fit everything. Litter is a separate issue but kpods are not a type of waste that typically gets littered (unlike soda cans, etc.)
- TarpitCarnivore 8y agoWhile instant coffee has a negative stigma I'm happy to see the speciality community stepping into this space as a way to possibly move people away from these machines. While the cost value is still not great (~$4 a cup) it's far less waste and the coffee (to me) is much better. There's currently three companies leading on this: Sudden, Swift Cup, and Voila. James Hoffman did a video on the three and discussed their pros/cons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuLWwZiIcl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuLWwZiIcl0). I've tried all three at various points in their tenure and agree with Jim's points in the video. * Sudden was the first to make the splash and for a while I was subscribed to them, but I never felt like the coffee tasted right. * Voila is my preferred option right now because they offer a good variety of roasters as well as feel the most consistent in taste. * Swift has had some of the best tasting ones, but it's slightly less consistent than Voila for me. Their best one I've had is the partnership offering they have with ReAnimator.
- oftenwrong 8y agoK-cup provides people with the illusion that they are getting "real" coffee. Instant provides no such illusion, hence its stigma. K-cup coffee is awful, but people happily drink it. Instant coffee can actually be much better, yet people go "BLECH!" if you even mention it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- WaltPurvis 8y agoIt is possible to use the Keurig system with your own coffee grounds and a non-disposable cup: E.g., https://amzn.to/2LraTIB https://amzn.to/2LraTIB or https://amzn.to/2RcREHQ https://amzn.to/2RcREHQ That gives you most of the convenience of a Keurig without the environmental impact.
- cjsawyer 8y agoYes! I dump the grounds in a clean filter before bed. In the morning my machine turns on and heats up, when I’m ready I hit the button. It brews and I toss the now dirty filter into a tupperwear beside the machine. A few days later when I’m out of filters I dump the now dry grounds into the trash and rinse the filters with a drop of soap and the pressure hose on my sink. Almost as easy as the store bought pods but it’s better quality coffee and I don’t need to feel bad about the waste. It’s less expensive too by a significant margin too
- derimagia 8y agoI usually use a compostable single-use kcup: http://a.co/d/4eWshVr http://a.co/d/4eWshVr Can usually find them for about $10 for that size box at my local grocery store.
- reaperducer 8y agoI used to use these, but they're no longer available in my region. They were on heavy discount for a few days everywhere so I scooped them up, assuming they were being discontinued.
- LeftTurnSignal 8y agoThe non-dispoable cups are the only reason I went with a Keurig. I wanted to have the option of using the k-cups and the option of using my own coffee. So far, I haven't found any issues with using it. They look the same as your second link. It is some off-brand one.
- lurkaround 8y agoI don't even think K-Cup coffee is any good but I suppose that's a personal preference statement. Still, I prefer the paper filter ones. And even so, is it not more feasible to just brew a big pot of coffee that's "actually" good for the whole office? At home I either do a French press or pour over with a reusable stainless steel filter then make a coffee scrub with the used grounds.
- koboll 8y agoK-cups are recyclable, it's just that no one does it because it's a pain in the ass to do at scale. You have to awkwardly peel back the top foil, dump the grounds, and then recycle the cup. Who at the office wants to sit there and do that for 20 cups in a row whenever the cup catcher fills up? What we need is some sort of cup recycler hardware that takes the work out of the annoying part. Put the used cup upside down, and a device scrapes the lid off and vaccuums the grounds into a compost holder, then you chuck the plastic into the recycle bin. That would instantly resolve the k-cup waste situation at my office.
- cjsawyer 8y agoIt seems much easier to use a machine which doesn’t need pods and just has a hopper of beans
- dragontamer 8y ago> K-cups are recyclable, it's just that no one does it because it's a pain in the ass to do at scale. You have to awkwardly peel back the top foil, dump the grounds, and then recycle the cup. Who at the office wants to sit there and do that for 20 cups in a row whenever the cup catcher fills up? I do believe this is a myth. K-Cups plastic falls into plastic-resin code #7: "Other plastic". Which means its the hardest kind of plastic to recycle. IIRC, #1 Plastic (PETE) is easiest to recycle, but sucks at high temperatures. #5 Plastic (PP aka Polypropylene) is also easy to recycle, but I'm not sure if it'd stand boiling-point of water. Most recycling plants IIRC will throw away Resin code #6 or #7, due to their difficulty to recycle. Some plants can recycle #6 or #7, but its not something you can count on.
- undersuit 8y agoOK, but the other parts in the K-cup also need to be thrown away too because of this part?
- dragontamer 8y agoDepends on the plant. I'm no recycling expert, but you have to remember that recycling plants are a combination of computer and human labor. Computers handle a lot of stuff easily: metals can be easily separated with magnets. Light plastics are separated with blowers, and some plastics can be detected with high-tech infrared / UV scanners. So when I say "easy to recycle", I'm talking about Aluminum (non-magnetic but metal, so easy to sort automatically) or plastic bags (air-blowers catch these). Everything else is dug around by hand by humans. If the humans can't figure it out, they throw it away immediately. Depending on the location, sometimes even Pizza boxes are thrown into the landfill by humans. Pizza Box is one of those things that's highly localized. You can't put a Pizza Box into a paper-recycling plant: the oils contaminate the mix. But you can shred a Pizza Box into a compost bin. IIRC, some areas only have paper-plants (so Pizza Boxes are thrown away there). So you gotta check with your local laws, regulations, and local plants to know for sure. EDIT: It seems like some areas can't handle plastic bags. It really depends. --------- For something like a K-Cup: it contains so little coffee that I find it unlikely that its worth the human's time to scoop out the coffee grounds. Its probably easier for the humans to throw a K-Cup away rather than manually labor in the recycling mix.
- dragontamer 8y agoPersonally speaking, cold brew is far more convenient than even K-Cups. Throw coffee + water into a big jar (~2 quarts), leave in the fridge for 12-hours. Filter, and you have ~1.7ish quarts of cold-brew coffee. 2-quart mason jars are like, $10 for a 6-pack. https://www.walmart.com/ip/JARDEN-HOME-BRANDS-68100-Ball-6Pack-1-2Gallon-Wide-Mouth-Jar/16661826 https://www.walmart.com/ip/JARDEN-HOME-BRANDS-68100-Ball-6Pa... Cold-brew in one Mason Jar, pour / filter into a 2nd jar. Heck, do 2 or 3 different flavors at once. Get a pour-over filter holder (ceramic or glass works well in my experience): https://www.target.com/p/melitta-sr-pour-over-cone-coffeemaker/-/A-53951777?preselect=53669500#lnk=sametab https://www.target.com/p/melitta-sr-pour-over-cone-coffeemak... And then get a bunch of Coffee Filters, usually $2 for ~100 of them. Bam. Cold Brew and its cheap as all heck too. Works on all kinds of coffee and tea in my experience. Just batch it all up in one go, and you have enough coffee for the whole week. If you like it warm, put it in the microwave. The cold-brew process reduces the bitterness overall, so you get a different taste. But I prefer higher flavor and less bitterness that comes from the cold-brew process. Nothing beats the convenience of cold brew. And you can use high-quality coffee with this method (K-Cups don't necessarily taste as good IMO. Less time for the coffee to infuse the flavor compared to traditional coffee making). ------- Other tips: 1. Use a scale to measure coffee. Put the mason jar on the scale, and dump coffee into it until you reach your appropriate amount for your recipe. Somewhere in the order of 1-to-15 coffee-to-water ratio. (1750g of water to 120g of coffee. Varies per coffee you use however, so do it to taste). Water is 1-gram to 1-milliliter, 1kg to 1-liter. The Metric System is defined by the weight / volume of water, so its easy if you use Metric measurements. Scales are easier to use than measuring cups IMO. Scales mean fewer things to clean, while delivering more precision in measurements. 2. Mason Jars are standardized. Buy 3rd party caps, such as "Recap" (from https://www.recapmasonjars.com/ https://www.recapmasonjars.com/ ) to make Mason Jars more usable. Both Wide-mouth and Standard-mouth jars are too wide in my experience, so "narrowing" the mouth with a Recap plastic top makes the pouring experience far better. The reason why I like Recap is because they use Rubber Gaskets to ensure a strong seal (a lot of random Amazon crap doesn't have a Gasket, and you get leaky coffee all over your pants if you use them). 3. Use high-quality filters to make the purest water possible. Coffee reacts to a lot of things in water, so its exceptionally important to filter as well as possible.
- 8y ago
- eezurr 8y agoIt should be noted that John quit the company in 1997 and sold his idea for $50,000; so him speaking quite openly about his thoughts make sense. Off topic: I think we've tipped over to the other side of the "convenience/humanity" pyramid. We climbed to the top some years ago where the lack of excess convenience gave us the opportunity to make things our selves and interact with other people face to face (which I think are very important human qualities) while being comfortable. Now we are sliding down the convenience side of the pyramid, unable to grasp what is important and fundamental. We are literally snowballing (ie obesity epidemic). Someone made a comment a few weeks ago from the Ansel Adams LA photos HN post, in regards to how thin people were back then, that really stuck out to me: there have been hundreds of small improvements that probably all add up together in terms of calories saved. e.g. power steering, escalators, elevators, transportation replacing walking or biking, etc. Back to the coffee pods: I don't get why people like to spend money on inferior experiences. My philosophy is if you're spending money on something you wont enjoy, you're wasting your money and your time. I'd rather spend more on something that provides some form of fulfillment. I cant blame those who don't have the opportunity to have something better.
- keithpeter 8y agoUK: I don't actually know anyone with one of these. I do know one chap who has a nespresso machine but he also has an aeropress. I just use my mokapot. Having said all that, the nespresso sales stand in a local city centre shopping arcade seems to always have people there...
- chaostheory 8y ago> Someone made a comment a few weeks ago from the Ansel Adams LA photos HN post, in regards to how thin people were back then One theory I have is due to the prevalence of smoking back then. Nicotine is great for appetite suppression.
- slfnflctd 8y agoIt's absolutely 100% about speed for me. There is no faster way for me to get my coffee fix any way you cut it, and when I'm under major time pressure I appreciate it a great deal. With some of them the taste is a bit better than others, but there's really no getting around the fact that it's significantly worse than with other brewing methods (on top of being expensive and wasteful). Swiftness is the whole deal. On a more leisurely day, I will break out the good beans, the grinder and the french press. But all that takes noticeably more time and energy, and when those are in short supply I tremendously value a lightning-quick alternative.
- amatecha 8y agoI used to make coffee with Aeropress every time, but finally got a cheap espresso machine (Breville Cafe Roma) and a coffee bean grinder (De'Longhi Dedica). Got a deal on both. OK, so it's a bit more work than just slapping in a [pod] and pressing a button, but it's totally worth it and the only "waste" is the bit of coffee grinds. No plastic, no metal. Probably the total cost of ownership over the ~6mo since I bought the espresso machine is likely actually less than if I had bought a Keurig or Nespresso machine and been paying for the pods this whole time. Plus you can't really beat legit espresso and steamed milk. :) That said, the Aeropress is always on hand for visiting elsewhere, road trips etc. Definitely the best alternative to a full-on espresso machine IMO.
- keithpeter 8y agoTry a mokapot. Much lower capital cost and just as resource light. Not so much crema though I have to admit.
- c0nsumer 8y agoI use an Aeropress daily and have a Moka. The biggest downsides to the Moka are time to heat up (on my gas stove), and pretty much needing to wait for it to cool down before cleaning it. It might be a little faster with an electric stove, but the cleaning would still be a big hassle. I prefer to clean up my coffee making stuff in the morning after making coffee, before heading out the door for work.
- mmcclellan 8y agoAre these really simpler than an electric kettle and a Hario v60?
- s_m 8y agoBuddy, we regret it too.
- paulcole 8y agoGood to see that he's putting his money where his mouth is and giving away the money he earned from his invention to a good cause. Oh wait...
- ovao 8y agoI think we’ve probably all regretted doing things we’ve done to “pay the mortgage” at various times in our past — that doesn’t necessitate that we donate that money to charity.
- paulcole 8y agoMost of us don't invent world-changing products to "pay the mortgage" and our regret over our work isn't featured in articles on major news websites. We're talking apples and oranges here.
- ovao 8y agoIf your argument is that scale or extent of publicity is the differentiator, then we’re not talking apples and oranges: we’re talking apples and bigger apples. The decision to be philanthropic is personal. Both in the sense that it’s up to the individual to choose based on their own feelings and in the sense that it’s, frankly, no one else’s business.
- paulcole 8y ago> The decision to be philanthropic is personal So is the decision to be regretful but he sure went public about that. It's a little hypocritical to publicly chastise himself, "boy I wish I hadn't done this awful thing that I profited massively from" and then do nothing else. Also an ocean and a puddle are both bodies of water but I wouldn't say the differentiator is scale.
- bhandziuk 8y agoHe definitely spent 50k between 1997 and when these machines really started to take off.
- theorique 8y agoIf you dry out the used pods and their contents, couldn't they be burned for energy?
- umvi 8y agoEvery company wants in on this business model. Even tech companies. Adobe has already moved to the "you need to buy an adobe pod once per month in order to keep using Photoshop"
- scrumper 8y agoMy wife insisted we buy one of those dreadful machines for our kitchen. I relented only when I found little metal reusable k cups on Amazon. Now we grind a few beans and they go in the pod. It’s ok, better in a cafetiere though. Never bought a single actual keurig pod and she’s happy.
- bhandziuk 8y agoI don't get it. Why not just brew some coffee with any other machine then? What's the Keurig bring to the table?
- scrumper 8y agoShe thinks it's easier than dealing with a cafetiere or a percolator for a single cup. It kind of is.
- technovader 8y agoBecause this way he can hold it over his wife forever.
- Emma_Goldman 8y agoAgreed. This is completely bizarre.
- Karunamon 8y agoSingle servings and speed. Sometimes you just want a cup of coffee 30 seconds from now, not an entire pot ten minutes from now.
- SonicSoul 8y ago'I don't know why people have them in their house,' K-Cup inventor says of his device Unless he donated half (or majority) of his profits to try to correct this mistake expressing 'regret' is kind of meaningless. update i stand corrected, my bad for not reading full post before commenting
- da_chicken 8y agoFrom above: > It should be noted that John quit the company in 1997 and sold his idea for $50,000
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- kup0 8y agoI've re-purposed my Keurig into a hot-water dispenser (and occasional refillable-k-cup coffee dispenser). It works well for me for that purpose. Buying the actual K-Cups is very expensive and wasteful. Though in a pinch or in certain circumstances (workplace, etc) I'll keep a few handy that I got on sale or cheaper in bulk.
- nukemandan 8y agoWhy is this so much of an issue? I agree that is it a more wasteful way to do coffee than other machines, but not significantly so. Why is everyone so up-in-arms about this vs any other single serve item, like water bottles, soda, and tea/coffee cans? The shipping costs alone for moving what amounts to mostly water and all the packaging make pods look innocent or better.
- JungleGymSam 8y ago95% outrage culture/5% environmental concern.
- tylershuster 8y agoYes significantly so. Compare buying bulk coffee and brewing a large carafe like Sylvan says, to K-Cups. First it's more expensive for you. Second you have unrecyclable plastic waste. Third what could once be composted now gets thrown into anaerobic landfill. And people are up in arms about water bottles. This is just another ridiculous capitalist scheme that trades marginal convenience against our planet's future. It's no a significant source of pollution by itself but ingrains a culture of disposability that has created most of the pollution on earth.
- nukemandan 8y ago>First it's more expensive for you. Second you have unrecyclable plastic waste. Third what could once be composted now gets thrown into anaerobic landfill. 1 - not if I take time/effort into account, or having someone prepare it for me 2 - How much less efficient is this than a coffee can/bag and filters? 3 - how much coffee is really composted anyway? how much of that is used productively?
- bhandziuk 8y agoThose things are all dumb, too. Coffee pods are just so easy to replace. Just make coffee like normal.
- aequitas 8y ago
- stuaxo 8y agoThese things are terrible. Could they at least make the pods out of cardboard ?
- zeveb 8y agoI don't understand why people have them in their homes (just make a pot of coffee, folks!), but I do understand why they have been so incredibly successful in offices: they are clean & convenient, and don't require everyone to agree on the same coffee at the same time. Each person can brew a cup as he wants one, there are no grounds to clean up, and a cup of fresh-brewed Keurig coffee — while nowhere near as good as good coffee — is far better than urn coffee which has been simmering for three hours. For offices, Keurig machines are a Godsend. For homes, though, I just don't get it.
- stevenalowe 8y agoI wonder if he regrets selling the idea for peanuts more?
- mr_tristan 8y agoI've learned that Keurig is really trying to get more municipalities to even recycle at all, because so few can accept recyclable resources, even the #5 polypropylene that they make their recyclable cups out of. Compostable cups are not really realistic as well, since so few municipalities offer pickup, there's basically no consumer interest. It's the sort of thing that made me sit up and realize what a bubble most of the tech world sits in. Composting and recycling is very much a "liberal urban thing" in the US. It seems like the culture is against cutting down on waste in any significant way.
- technovader 8y agoMcDonalds sells KCUPs that are compostable. Meaning you just put it in with your compost. They also happen to be some of the best coffee you can get in a KCUP. It's my daily cup of joe. Anyway if your city does not have compost you have bigger problems than KCUPs. If you do have compost, just get KCUPS that are biodegradable. It's way better than a system where KCUPs have to be recycled in a special way (like Nespresso does).
- mr_tristan 8y agoYeah, I'm just pointing out the underlying problem is cultural - if Keurig didn't exist, we'd have something else filling up the trash bin. Given that 91% of plastic made hasn't been recycled, it does seem like "just make it all compostable, who cares where it goes" is a better approach. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/plastic-produced-recycling-waste-ocean-trash-debris-environment/ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/plastic-produced...)
- protomyth 8y agoOn a weird side note, used coffee grounds are sometimes used to bleach buffalo skulls white. So the art folks have been collecting k-cups to get the grounds which has greater participation than the old style coffee pots. I guess its convenient on both ends of the product cycle.
- cronix 8y agoWe should start having a plastic tax per gram of plastic, and based on the type of plastic (how easy it can be recycled). Maybe if these products became really expensive and people bought less of them, companies will find other methods. I'm very, very sick and tired of the over use of plastic in our society. Plastic does play a useful role in our lives, but I don't think every product we buy needs to be in that thick clear plastic that is very hard to open without cutting the hell out of your hand. Companies claim this is a theft deterrent, and it might be, but I think we can do better than the over use of all of this plastic. It's just everywhere now, including your body. Or, instead of a tax, a deposit which you get some or all of it back when you recycle it like we do with aluminum cans. Plastic is only about 100 years old, and look what we've done. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-cleaning-up-the-plastic-in-the-ocean-60-minutes/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch... Edit: removed erroneous editorialized comment
- cronix 8y ago> The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimated that in 2006, injuries from plastic packaging resulted in approximately 6,000 emergency-room visits. > Along with the potential health hazards, environmental concerns have prompted calls for the elimination of clamshell packaging. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about one-third of consumer garbage is packaging, and plastics comprise 12 per cent of U.S. waste each year. https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/03/04/clamshell-packaging-is-an-often-dangerous-lesson-in-bad-design.html https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/03/04/clamshell-pa... I am having a hard time finding current numbers. 6,000 in 2006...12 years ago. I'm sure it's only climbed since then.
- rad_gruchalski 8y ago> I feel so bad about this product I created. I don't feel as bad about the money I'm making though, and no, I won't close the company out of principle. I just make too much money from it. > But he left the company in 1997, selling his ownership of the product for $50,000. He can’t close anything down. He made $50k out of it.
- KMag 8y ago
- rickyc091 8y agoJust want to point out that Keurig did make recyclable pods called K-Cup Vue, but the price per cup was noticeably more so people continued to go with the regular k-cup option. On top of that, it wasn't available at many brick and mortar stores. On top of that, the size differed causing everyone to buy a different, more expensive machine.
- ryansmccoy 8y agoA little bit of a tangent, but man do Investors/Wall-Street love the Razor/Razor-Blade business models. Sell the hardware (i.e. the machine) at ~10-20% Gross Margin then sell the consumables at like 60-80% Gross Margin. See it a a lot with Healthcare companies. Doesn't always work, but when it does... Obviously, there are other business models that Investors/Wall Street likes better (i.e. SAAS).
- DBYCZ 8y agoWhy do they have to be cups, instead of little coffee-filled teabags you pop in the machine instead?
- parliament32 8y agoOver the last year or so there's been a big push from companies to sell biodegradable k-cups. In our office we're fully switched to Onecoffee, which are Keurig-compatible compostable pods: https://onecoffee.com/ https://onecoffee.com/