A Simple Solution to Making K-Cups Recyclable

Sometimes big successes
create big problems.

An up-and-coming designer gets so many orders for her new coat collection, for example, that she can’t meet the insane demand. A singer becomes an overnight sensation, and is so overjoyed by the attention and money, that she turns her back on her old friends from home.

The wild popularity of single-cup coffeemakers in the past few years (16 million households own one) is now responsible for generating 41 million used single-serve cups every day, which translate to 2.8 billion cubic
feet of waste in our landfills every year.

While the individual components of the K-Cups that are used in the best-selling Keurig coffeemakers can be recycled separately, the plastic-aluminum-coffee-ground-and-paper K-Cup as a whole cannot. That’s a big problem!

Enter Recycle-A-Cup, an exciting new environmentally friendly accessory that uses cutting cartridges to split K-Cups into their separate parts so we can recycle the aluminum and plastic and compost the coffee grounds and paper filter. “You will be making a very positive impact on the environment by letting the organic coffee grounds decompose in the landfills,” said a spokesperson for Medelco, Inc., the manufacturer. Each Recycle-A-Cup is packaged with two replacement cutting cartridges. Replacements can be purchased at recycleacup.com and should be inserted once a month to ensure smooth operation.

I am a big fan of single-cup coffeemakers because I’m the only coffee drinker at home, so I was delighted to try out Recycle-A-Cup for the company and tell you about it. I religiously recycle paper and plastic and believe that all the little contributions we make to help the environment will surely add up and make a meaningful impact. The device is easy to use and it takes just a few tries to master the moves. Simply load the K-Cup in the clearly marked position; twist Recycle-A-Cup while pressing the cutting cartridge buttons, release the buttons, and voila! The top and bottom are separated and each piece can be properly recycled.

Many cities and towns recycle the low-grade, mixed flake resin from which the K-Cup is created. However, anyone who can’t find a place to recycle the cup shells, can reuse them at home, for arts and crafts, mini-pots for planting seeds, and organizing small items like paper clips, screws, picture hangers and nails.

Recycle-A-Cup is regularly $14.99, but the manufacturer is offering it to FabOverFifty fans for a special price of $9.99, including free shipping, when you order from now until September 1st, 2014.

Enter code 2sbr73 at checkout for your discount and free shipping!