We
love convenience. So what's not to love about coffee pods, that make
sort of good cup of coffee with no muss and no fuss? They have taken
over Europe and sadly, these alien specimens have crossed the
Atlantic and are invading North America.
The
problem with them is the waste that mostly goes straight to landfill.
Yes, coffee pods are made of recyclable materials (the plastic shell,
the paper filter and the aluminum) but recycling plants don’t hire
staff to pull these materials apart and put them in the appropriate
bins. And while EcoCups use No.6 plastic, other companies like Green
Mountain use No. 7, which can’t be recycled in most places. No.7
plastics may also release unwanted toxic chemicals when incinerated.
The East Bay express estimated that they could produce
about 966 million pounds of waste per year. If that’s not enough of
a visual for you, Mother Jones reported that the amount of coffee
cups produced by Green Mountain (8.3 billion) in 2013 was enough to
go around the earth 10.5 times – and that’s just one company.
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