I started drinking coffee at age 13, but so many of my friends began to regularly consume it freshman year of college. Despite not liking the taste, they found it necessary to survive at school, needing to pull all nighters or to not fall asleep during their first class. I found it most convenient, and most cost-efficient, to get my own coffee maker long ago. Around the time when Keurig’s were becoming popular I knew I had to have one. The speed and efficiency was unbeatable, but as an environmental student I couldn’t help but notice all of the single-use pods (or K-Cups) I was throwing in the trash. Each cup of coffee meant another K-Cup in a landfill. I rationalized this at first by the fact that I wasn’t buying a new paper cup at the coffee shop each time I wanted a cup of joe…but I felt guilty. In my opinion, nothing should be single-use because it only promotes the consumerism illness our country suffers from.
photo via greenmountaincofee.com
I was really happy to read the New York Times about a month ago and see that Green Mountain Coffee, a company with over 300 kinds of K-Cups and supposed eco-conscious reputation, is generating some ideas to abolish their old K-Cup idea. Biodegradable pods are a possibility, or recycling-programs for the pods could be a solution. Even more convenient than the K-Cup itself is the fact that the best solution to this problem is actually available to buy. “My K-Cup” is a plastic pod with a metal filter inside. You buy ground coffee from the supermarket the old-fashioned way (imagine that) and pour it into the pod, where it is then inserted to the Keurig and – voila, the perfect cup of coffee, without any shred of guilt or trash!
photo via roaste.com
So, for all of you coffee lovers – or college students – out there, you can now save money and help the global waste problem all in one. Get your Keurig here and your My K-Cup here (also available at Bed Bath & Beyond), because I know you’re sick of paying over two bucks for a cup at Starbucks.
