Waste Diversion Elevated Enviro Ratings:

Keurig Starbucks Breakfast Blend 

 

Elevated Enviro reviews products based on thier ability to be diverted from landfills, waste diversion. We look at products through reduce, reuse and recycle. How easy is each one for each product? Let’s see how Keurig Pods do...

 

The great thing about the pods is that on the package it states what type of plastic grade the product is. This is a great first step. It falls apart from there. The actual pods don’t have any clear indication of what plastic grade they are. The grade is #5 polypropylene. This is a recyclable material. However, the size makes it tricky to be recycled in most sorting facilities. The technology isn’t there. Also, to recycle this product you need to separate the foil lid, the filter and all the grinds. The filter is very challenging to remove. Once removed the product breaks down into two small pieces. The smaller the pieces the harder it is for sorting facilities to pick them up. It’s not that small plastic is impossible to recycle it’s that the technology at sorting facilities isn’t always there.

 

The Keurig website states that 67% of  U.S. communities can recycle #5 plastic and that 91% of Canadian communities can do the same. This may be true but that doesn’t mean they can recycle the pods. They would still need to have the right equipment to pick up the small plastic pieces.