Dear Mark Choe, Keurig Green Mountain’s Chief Technology Officer
This letter is to inform Keurig of the issues that Keurig’s consumers are concerned with. As Keurig knows, avid coffee drinkers appreciate a delicious cup of coffee. It is true that one can find a Keurig coffee machine nearly everywhere today. However, attention is being given to Keurig and other brands to examine the issues of recycling the coffee pods properly. The commitment from Keurig that in five more years the amount of waste will diminish does not satisfy many consumers. Keurig Green Mountain ensures they are an eco-friendly company. The pressure is on to reduce waste. The argument over K-cup or seeking options by office buildings and consumers alike is on the rise. …show more content…
The company is determined to move toward polypropylene #5 plastic for the K-cup, the same used in yogurt and butter containers. The current no. 7 plastic being used poses a problem to the environmentally conscientious coffee consumers, partly, because the K-cup is neither recyclable nor biodegradable. The efforts to fix the problem have had minimal success so far. Providing beverages that are exceptional should be a priority to Keurig and their environmental impact needs to be addressed as they grow in popularity. As the diagram shows the efforts need to continue to work toward a recyclable K-cup. Searching for ways such as, biodegradable packaging, recycle the pods program, or making the coffee filters reusable is a start to the issue. Consumers are constantly being reminded that when they throw out their K-cup they are contributing to the 13 billion K-cups that went into the landfills. As a company, Keurig cannot put that much guilt on the consumer. (source: Keurig.. Culture War on your …show more content…
In addition, the company Havas Worldwide has an online program called, “Kill the K-cup”. They are attempting to address the consumers that use the Keurig. Landfills will continue to build up with these harmful pods if the company does nothing. Protestors believe Keurig needs to take action immediately to put an end to the environmental issues happening from their product. In 2011, the Grounds to Grow On program was started. Office workers can purchase K-cup bins and fill them up with used k-cups. The Keurig’s disposal system turned the used coffee grounds into compost and sends the rest to be incinerated. This turns to energy at the power plant. However, critics point out that the waste-to-energy is hardly green because of the airborne pollutants released from incinerators. In the words of Julie Craves, of the Coffee and Conservation blog, she states that “recycling is the enemy of the never-ending stream of garbage needed to feed waste to energy facilities” (Scheer and
This letter is to inform Keurig of the issues that Keurig’s consumers are concerned with. As Keurig knows, avid coffee drinkers appreciate a delicious cup of coffee. It is true that one can find a Keurig coffee machine nearly everywhere today. However, attention is being given to Keurig and other brands to examine the issues of recycling the coffee pods properly. The commitment from Keurig that in five more years the amount of waste will diminish does not satisfy many consumers. Keurig Green Mountain ensures they are an eco-friendly company. The pressure is on to reduce waste. The argument over K-cup or seeking options by office buildings and consumers alike is on the rise. …show more content…
The company is determined to move toward polypropylene #5 plastic for the K-cup, the same used in yogurt and butter containers. The current no. 7 plastic being used poses a problem to the environmentally conscientious coffee consumers, partly, because the K-cup is neither recyclable nor biodegradable. The efforts to fix the problem have had minimal success so far. Providing beverages that are exceptional should be a priority to Keurig and their environmental impact needs to be addressed as they grow in popularity. As the diagram shows the efforts need to continue to work toward a recyclable K-cup. Searching for ways such as, biodegradable packaging, recycle the pods program, or making the coffee filters reusable is a start to the issue. Consumers are constantly being reminded that when they throw out their K-cup they are contributing to the 13 billion K-cups that went into the landfills. As a company, Keurig cannot put that much guilt on the consumer. (source: Keurig.. Culture War on your …show more content…
In addition, the company Havas Worldwide has an online program called, “Kill the K-cup”. They are attempting to address the consumers that use the Keurig. Landfills will continue to build up with these harmful pods if the company does nothing. Protestors believe Keurig needs to take action immediately to put an end to the environmental issues happening from their product. In 2011, the Grounds to Grow On program was started. Office workers can purchase K-cup bins and fill them up with used k-cups. The Keurig’s disposal system turned the used coffee grounds into compost and sends the rest to be incinerated. This turns to energy at the power plant. However, critics point out that the waste-to-energy is hardly green because of the airborne pollutants released from incinerators. In the words of Julie Craves, of the Coffee and Conservation blog, she states that “recycling is the enemy of the never-ending stream of garbage needed to feed waste to energy facilities” (Scheer and