Mythbusters: The Truth About Recyclable Pods

Mythbusters: The Truth About Recyclable Pods

Millions of people love single-serve coffee for the convenience it offers. In fact, in the US, over 22 billion coffee pods are consumed every year.  But many coffee fans also recognize the inherent issues around disposable coffee pods. Concerns have led to the development and marketing of “recyclable” pods, which many consumers have accepted as a reasonable option, with the perception that they are doing a good thing. But are those pods actually being recycled?

Coffee Pod Recycling is a Hassle and Largely Ineffective 

Major brands have been encouraging consumers to recycle their coffee pods, including claiming that their pods are made of plastic that is “100% recyclable”. They ask you to empty and clean out used pods and then send the empty cups for recycling. 

But read the fine print and you’ll see they acknowledge that not all recycling facilities will accept their coffee pods. (In fact, both the US and Canadian governments have issued fines for misleading marketing around these claims.)

Here’s the truth: While polypropylene (marked as PP5) is a recyclable material, it is not accepted for recycling in every local community. 

Even where it is accepted, small coffee pods are especially difficult to recycle as their small size often causes them to fall through the screens used to sort materials in the recycling facilities. Once in landfills, untreated plastic can take hundreds of years to decompose.

Or perhaps you use aluminum pods and follow a similar process of emptying and cleaning pods, then sending them to the manufacturer for recycling. But there are complications here too. First, they are typically made of virgin aluminum, which has a large carbon footprint. Plus they are also complicated and difficult to process for recycling.  In the US, only about 2% of aluminum capsules are actually recycled, meaning most end up in landfills. 

Even compostable pods made of bioplastics aren’t a simple solution. They too take a lot of resources to produce and because we lack industrial scale composting facilities in the US, those pods also typically end up in landfills. Like traditional plastics, they take a long time to decompose in that environment. 

Enzyme-Infused Plastic Offers a Smarter Alternative to Recyclable Pods

The good news is that there’s a smarter and more practical alternative, thanks to the emerging technology of enzyme-infused plastic.

Start up Bruvi was founded on the premise of reinventing single-serve coffee, including addressing the issue of coffee pod disposal. Recognizing the opportunity of enzyme-infused plastics, Bruvi invested several years and lots of financial resources to develop Guilt Free Toss® B-Pods®, the first coffee pods intended to be tossed in the trash. That’s because Bruvi infuses our PP#5 pods with a bio-enzyme that enables them to substantially break down much more rapidly than untreated plastics, through an organic process that leaves no microplastics behind.

There’s more: In applicable landfills, B-Pods can also play a role in Landfill Gas to Energy projects, creating renewable energy and bringing enhanced end of life value. 

For consumers, that means none of the hassle of cleaning and separating coffee pods for recycling - as well as the peace of mind that you’re using a smarter solution. 

Hopefully manufacturers of other products that use small plastic cups (think applesauce, pudding, yogurt) will adopt this same technology. Imagine if more - and larger - companies made this commitment to reducing untreated plastic waste. It bears saying that while this is not  the ultimate solution for waste management or climate preservation, enzyme-infused plastic and Bruvi B-Pods do provide a more practical option, given the realities of US recycling and waste disposal infrastructure.