Each morning I start my day with a cup of coffee.  For years my family used coffee grinds to brew our  daily cups, but this past December we began using a Keurig brand coffee maker. The Keurig coffee maker provides convenience and a variety of different drink options at the touch of a button. However, until recently I was unaware of the extremely harmful waste produced by the "K-cups" used in the Keurig. The K-cup which contains the coffee grinds used in the Keurig is made from a material that is not recyclable, biodegradable, or remotely eco-friendly. This is quite concerning as an increased amount of people have begun switching to Keurig coffee makers. Some people estimate that around 9 million K-cups went into to landfills last year, that is more K-cups then people on earth. This number will likely only grow, that is unless people are made aware of this serious issue and take action. I have begun encouraging my family to switch back to our old coffee machine, a nd I encourage any other Keurig users to consider doing the same for the sake of our planet. It is my hope that this issue gains more exposure quickly before even more damage is done.

I also own a Keurig, and while it's convenient, I can also see your points. I don't have an easy recycling system within my home or neighborhood, so the plastic cups always end up in the trash. Another downside is that my Keurig often never makes a full cup, so as a result it wastes water and power. I would certainly agree to taking steps to reduce the number of non-biodegradable pieces of plastic in landfills. This is a great point and I was very unaware as to the negative effects of this coffee maker. Thanks for sharing this information!

I had no idea that K-cups could be so harmful! My family uses our Keurig machine if not once, Then twice a day. This is about 365+ K-cups that go into a landfill from my family alone!! I will most definitely sit down and talk to my family about how much this can pollute the environment! Maybe instead of using these plastic cups, they could use a more biodegradable material? I think this would save the environment from  all of those harmful K-cups!!!

Even being aware of the inability to recycle the Keurig K-cups, the estimate of 9 million being thrown into landfills last year is shocking. As the popularity of the convenient machine rises, more K-cups will be discarded which will only increase as time goes by. I believe the packaging should be made more environmentally friendly. As easy as it might sound, creating new material for the creation of the K-cups would require a lot of work. That being said, helping to save the environment today, will better future generations.

I really appreciate all of your responses. Emma S, after reading your response I was inspired to find out if any actions is being taken to create a biodegradable packaging for K-cups. It turns out that many companies have stepped forward in developing  increasingly eco-friendly packaging. I found this article very reassuring in the sense that this issue isnt being taken lightly, http://www.sustainableamerica.org/blog/ … our-k-cup/ , While using a drip-coffee machine is still more environmentally friendly, its good to know that people are trying to find a solution to this issue.