The Keurig coffee machine has been a game-changer in the world of home coffee-brewing. Making a cuppa is shockingly simple and blazingly fast. There have been a few downsides, though: The quality of the coffee isn’t stellar, we’re paying 4-6 times more for each cup of coffee brewed with a Keurig, and the environmental impact on our oceans is massive. None of these facts seem to deter us in the slightest from going all in the with machine at home and in the office, though — people love convenience. But can we have both our coffee and reduce harm to the environment at the same time?
As with most innovation, ancillary companies are born to make the foundational product better. This is the case with PürPod. The company that created it — Canada’s Club Coffee — recognized the massive environmental impact pod usage was having and set out to find a solution. So they developed a 100 percent biodegradable Keurig pod that you can simply compost. They were even certified by Biodegradable Products Institute which confirmed that after 84 days “There is usually no visible trace of any part of the pod when it gets the air and moisture found in good large-scale aerobic composting processes.”
Let’s chalk that up as a win for Mother Nature.
There’s still a long way to go, however. The City of Toronto has balked at the idea of such a pod. Lauren Joakim, Club Coffee’s spokeswoman, told The CBC that composting programs “don’t want to touch” the product due to the fact that it might confuse consumers into thinking that all pods can be composted, when that’s not the case. It seems like a situation where the industry-wide standard needs to be addressed and conformed. The good news is that Keurig is also on board to convert to a “guilt-free” pod — so change is in the air.
If you want to buy bio-degradable pods, here’s a list of companies already providing them. You can also sign up with PürPod and receive a free sample.
(Via Treehugger)
