Coffee Roaster Looks to Improve Footprint of Single Cup Systems
Published on 26 April 2014
With the convenience of one-cup brewing systems comes a hefty share of waste. Brewers such as those sold under the popular Keurig brand use a small plastic cup to brew each cup of coffee or tea. Though the capsules contain recyclable or compostable elements — aluminum foil, plastic and organic waste in the form of tea leaves or coffee grounds — it’s difficult to separate the components for processing, leaving spent K-Cups to collect in landfills.
“From the consumer perspective, they’re fabulously convenient, but at the end of the day there’s a lot of end-of-life waste for these individual capsules, and their components just end up in landfill,” said Bill VandenBygaart, vice president of business development at Mother Parkers.