Photos courtesy of the Coffee Pod Recycling Co.
K-cups and other coffee pods have been hindering recycling efforts for years. The small, single-use plastic containers are used easily and frequently and immediately thrown away afterward. According to New Jersey-based Coffee Pod Recycling Co. (CPRC), approximately 576,000 metric tons of coffee pod waste are produced per year. That equates to around 40 million pods a day.
As large as that number seems, a solution is within reach, according to the founders of CPRC, coffee pods don’t have to be thrown in the garbage. If the foil is removed from the top of the pod and the coffee grounds are rinsed out, the remaining plastic—the majority of the pod—is recyclable when accepted in recycling programs. With only these few extra steps, the pod can be put in the recycling bin instead of the trash. However, peeling the foil from the pod can be obnoxious and difficult for some. Three high school students, Henry Griffith, Rafael Guzman and Luke Tyler, have engineered a solution.
During their freshman year of high school, the three boys were assigned an engineering project for one of their finals. The objective was to create an accessible way for older people with arthritis to remove the foil from K-cups. As the three students went through prototypes of their product, they realized that their 3D printed tool was useful for the average person, not just those with arthritis.
After turning in the school project, their teacher reached out to them. She saw potential in the boys’ work and encouraged them to pursue a patent for their product. By the beginning of their sophomore year, the Coffee Pod Recycling Co. was official with its newly patented product, the Coffee Pod Recycler.
The Coffee Pod Recycler works by using small blades to easily remove the top of coffee pods. The plastic contraption is placed on the top of the pod, fitting snuggly around the circumference. Then, the user simply twists the tool to remove the foil. After the foil is removed and the coffee grounds are rinsed from the pod, the pod is ready to be tossed in the recycling bin. The Coffee Pod Recycler is made with 3D printed with biodegradable PLA, pr polylactic acid, plastic.
The “How To Use” tab of CPRC’s website includes a video featuring Griffith as he demonstrates how to use the Coffee Pod Recycler.
Griffith is in charge of marketing and website development for CPRC. He handles advertising and social media, something he says is a nonstop endeavor.
Guzman and Tyler run the production of the Coffee Pod Recycler, each focusing on producing and shipping a different colored pack. They are the design experts in refining and improving the tool.
As of June 2025, with the company almost a year old, CPRC has sold approximately 100 individual Coffee Pod Recyclers. As the company’s sales increase, its founders’ goal is to raise awareness about the problem they are attempting to solve.
CPRC is not the only company that manufactures coffee pod openers. When they began their company, Griffith purchased a number of pod openers from competing companies to get a feel for the market. According to Griffith, the competing brands were too big, bulky or expensive. They also found that a majority of the pod openers were not recycling as much of the coffee pod as they should have.
Griffith says, “Most of the brands actually detached the filter from the pod while keeping the grounds inside of it. With coffee pods, there's a tin foil covering, there's a filter inside that actually holds the pods, and there's a plastic coating-like shell. Many other recyclers only recycle the shell.”
The Coffee Pod Recycler maximizes the amount of the pod able to be recycled by removing the foil and leaving the filter attached. Griffith says, “The goal is to reduce the negative environmental impact of these things to zero. That's an unrealistic goal, but you shoot for the stars.”
CPRC plans to expand production by making a similar Coffee Pod Recycler that is compatible with Nespresso pods. Guzman and Tyler are working on designing and developing the new pod recycler.
Shipping for the Coffee Pod Recycler is available across the United States. However, consumers should confirm with their recycling provider that pods are welcome in the recycling stream prior to purchasing and using the device as many material recovery facilities cannot recover these items.
As large as that number seems, a solution is within reach, according to the founders of CPRC, coffee pods don’t have to be thrown in the garbage. If the foil is removed from the top of the pod and the coffee grounds are rinsed out, the remaining plastic—the majority of the pod—is recyclable when accepted in recycling programs. With only these few extra steps, the pod can be put in the recycling bin instead of the trash. However, peeling the foil from the pod can be obnoxious and difficult for some. Three high school students, Henry Griffith, Rafael Guzman and Luke Tyler, have engineered a solution.
During their freshman year of high school, the three boys were assigned an engineering project for one of their finals. The objective was to create an accessible way for older people with arthritis to remove the foil from K-cups. As the three students went through prototypes of their product, they realized that their 3D printed tool was useful for the average person, not just those with arthritis.
After turning in the school project, their teacher reached out to them. She saw potential in the boys’ work and encouraged them to pursue a patent for their product. By the beginning of their sophomore year, the Coffee Pod Recycling Co. was official with its newly patented product, the Coffee Pod Recycler.
The Coffee Pod Recycler works by using small blades to easily remove the top of coffee pods. The plastic contraption is placed on the top of the pod, fitting snuggly around the circumference. Then, the user simply twists the tool to remove the foil. After the foil is removed and the coffee grounds are rinsed from the pod, the pod is ready to be tossed in the recycling bin. The Coffee Pod Recycler is made with 3D printed with biodegradable PLA, pr polylactic acid, plastic.
The “How To Use” tab of CPRC’s website includes a video featuring Griffith as he demonstrates how to use the Coffee Pod Recycler.
Griffith is in charge of marketing and website development for CPRC. He handles advertising and social media, something he says is a nonstop endeavor.
Guzman and Tyler run the production of the Coffee Pod Recycler, each focusing on producing and shipping a different colored pack. They are the design experts in refining and improving the tool.
As of June 2025, with the company almost a year old, CPRC has sold approximately 100 individual Coffee Pod Recyclers. As the company’s sales increase, its founders’ goal is to raise awareness about the problem they are attempting to solve.
CPRC is not the only company that manufactures coffee pod openers. When they began their company, Griffith purchased a number of pod openers from competing companies to get a feel for the market. According to Griffith, the competing brands were too big, bulky or expensive. They also found that a majority of the pod openers were not recycling as much of the coffee pod as they should have.
Griffith says, “Most of the brands actually detached the filter from the pod while keeping the grounds inside of it. With coffee pods, there's a tin foil covering, there's a filter inside that actually holds the pods, and there's a plastic coating-like shell. Many other recyclers only recycle the shell.”
The Coffee Pod Recycler maximizes the amount of the pod able to be recycled by removing the foil and leaving the filter attached. Griffith says, “The goal is to reduce the negative environmental impact of these things to zero. That's an unrealistic goal, but you shoot for the stars.”
CPRC plans to expand production by making a similar Coffee Pod Recycler that is compatible with Nespresso pods. Guzman and Tyler are working on designing and developing the new pod recycler.
Shipping for the Coffee Pod Recycler is available across the United States. However, consumers should confirm with their recycling provider that pods are welcome in the recycling stream prior to purchasing and using the device as many material recovery facilities cannot recover these items.
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