Pop goes the environment
Keurig Kold is a convenient way to make pop. But at what cost to Mother Earth?
By garbage day, the blue bin of many pop drinkers is little more than a mountain of shiny aluminum cans (plus the cardboard box the cans came in).
With the Keurig Kold coming to Canada recently, it seems that could change. But although making pop at home with a push of a button could reduce the amount of cans headed to the recycling depot, like its infamous companion machine for hot coffee, the Keurig Kold also uses little plastic pods that are likely to end up in a garbage dump.
The recent unusually warm winter weather has many Canadians thinking about the environment, but it can be hard to know what to do. If you like to drink pop regularly, Jo-Anne St. Godard, the executive director of the Recycling Council of Ontario, advises ditching the cans and pods and instead buying two-litre plastic bottles of the fizzy stuff.
Premium product, premium price Despite the environmental concerns, executives at Keurig Green Mountain Inc. are hopeful interest in the Keurig Kold will heat up this year. There are a plethora of pods to pop in the $399 machine making “8 ounces of perfectly portioned yum” for $5.99 for a box of four. While the drinks may indeed be yummy, the high prices of the machine and pods inspired frosty reviews from many influential publications, including techie magazine Wired.
Despite the chilly reception, Keurig Canada’s president Stéphane Glorieux, is still bubbling over with enthusiasm for the new product, which he says will help the company reach its goal of reaching “every counter” in North America “morning, day and night.”
Destination: Landfill Keurig’s Kold pods are currently only recyclable in communities that accept No. 7 plastics (Toronto does not recycle coffee pods). And, people first must remember to peel off the foil lids and pour out the carbonator beads, or your community would have to pay someone to clean the little pods at your local recycling centre, which is not likely to happen as it “would cost a fortune,” according to the head of the Recycling Council of Ontario.
All of these caveats mean if you buy a Keurig Kold machine your pods are almost certainly going to end up in the landfill, St. Godard warns.
Reduce, reuse, then recycle While products like Keurig’s hot and cold drink machines “satisfy our single-serving, on-the-go culture” this cultural mindset generates an enormous amount of garbage, said St. Godard in a phone interview.
The recycling expert reminds people to remember the first two Rs first: reduce and reuse. Recycling, she says, is and should be the third, and last option.
Keurig products create so much garbage that even the creator of the K-Cup hot coffee pod has gone on record saying he regrets inventing the hugely popular product.
In response, Keurig has promised to make the K-Cups fully recyclable by 2020.
Environmentalists, like St. Godard, would ultimately like Keurig to make reusable or compostable pods for the new cold-drink machine.
But, there are no current plans to do that, though the company remains open to “innovations” down the road, said Keurig Canada’s president.
The company is now offering a poppod take-back program in Canada. This means consumers must clean and collect the pods, then mail the pods to Montreal. Canadians who participate in the take-back program will then “receive a special offer” toward their next Kold pod purchase.
Plus, there are some savings to the environment as heavy liquids in bottles and cans are not being transported over long distances, he added. And, Glorieux notes, people generally use reusable glasses to drink their Keurig Kold beverages, thus cutting down on the amount of bottles and cans thrown away after one use.
Turn on the tap Until Keurig (or another company) offers a reusable or compostable pop pod the most environmentally friendly option is to opt for two-litre bottles of pop, advises St. Godard.
Or better yet, if you want to save Mother Earth, just cut down your pop intake at home. The next time you’re thirsty, grab a glass, fill it with tap water and say cheers to your halfempty (or half-full?) blue bin.