Keurig reports progress on the recyclability of its pods

In a post on the Keurig Green Mountain website, Monique Oxender, the company’s chief sustainability officer, writes, “I’m proud that 3 out of the 4 pod types available for our Keurig 2.0 hot system brewer are recyclable and an increasing number of our K-Cup pods will transition to a recyclable format each year between now and 2020.”

Oxender also notes that the company wants to “ensure that our new K-Cup pod design can be effectively recycled in the majority of community programs.”

To that end, Keurig has been working on a three-part approach that focuses on product design, including selecting pod materials; recycling infrastructure, which includes household access to recycling and recyclers’ ability to sort material; and end market development. “All three areas contribute to success in a complex recycling system,” Oxender writes.

She says many small plastics products and packages “could have a second life as part of a durable good,” which is why Keurig is looking beyond improving collection of its own pods to collaborating with recyclers and brand owners to improve collecting, sorting and processing of these items.

The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, recently announced that Keurig signed on as a funding partner of the organization, which through public-private partnerships seeks to improve recycling at the local level.