Why it’s so hard to create a truly recyclable Keurig coffee pod

There's a Keurig machine in some 40 million households in the U.S. Single-serve coffee brewing systems — which allow consumers to make just one cup of coffee at a time by feeding a pod into a slot and pressing a button — have soared in popularity since the early 2000s. The company's single-use coffee pods — also known as K-cups — are made of polypropylene plastic, a material that experts warn is not as recyclable as consumers have been led to think. "There are over 10,000 recycling systems in the U.S.," said Pare, who is also a member of the Plastic Pollution Working Group at Duke's Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability. Because Cambio coffee pods are designed to work with Keurig models, Hartley hopes to give consumers what they want "without having to buy a new brewer." The ultimate solution to Keurig's plastic footprint, she said, is a product that eliminates "the need to collect anything back from customers," like a fiber-based pod that can be composted along with the grounds.