Keurig, the company that got us all hooked on single-serve coffee systems and has helped us churn through billions of plastic throwaway K-cups, just reinvented its single-serve system in what may be the most sustainable way: K-Rounds.
K-Rounds are plastic and aluminum-free, highly-compressed coffee ground pods held together by an ultra-thin layer of plant-based material (alginate). As one Keurig exec described it, "It’s just coffee in those pods."
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If successful, K-Rounds could have a measurable impact on the environment. According to one report, we create approximately half a billion metric tons of coffee capsule waste each year.
Coffee can, single piece of packaging for months on end.
Vs.
K-cups, paper, dyes, increased packaging volumes, increased energy in production, increased raw materials, increased trips to the store to purchase more, 6 month shelf life. Sustainable /s
Shit, you can get a little reusable basket for a Keurig and put regular coffee in it. They just made a less sustainable version of something that exists.
Really all the machine does is heat and measure the water for you.