Can Disposable Single-Cup Coffee be Sustainable? Green Mountain Coffee
July 6th, 2009 - Green Mountain Coffee made the popular Keurig Single-Cup brewing system, in which a bit of coffee is sealed in plastic and can be popped cleanly into a single-serve coffee maker. Does it make sense to put fair-trade coffee in a disposable petroleum-based package?
Of the coffee shipped around the world by Green Mountain Coffee (GMC), 27% is currently fair trade certified and that number is increasing. They have partnered with Newman’s Own Organics to widen the market for fair trade coffees and by putting fair trade coffees in their popular K-Cup®s they say they are popularizing fair trade and helping coffee growing communities. In some of their other products, 19% of the bags are made from the corn-based bio-plastic, PLA, they cut their solid waste by 19% by composting organic waste from production process. Part of their fleet runs on biodiesel. GMC offsets 100% of their direct greenhouse gas emissions and they also partner with non-profits such as Heifer International, and provide grants focused on poverty reduction.
K-cups however, are petroleum based plastic, with a layer of polyethylene coating an interior filter paper and an aluminum foil top. It keeps the coffee fresh, but makes recycling impossible. Small though the cups may be they are big business, with GMC reporting that 2.5 million K-Cup® s are brewed every day. K-Cup® s were about ½ of their net sales as last year.
On the sustainability of their operation GMC states, "we understand that the impact of the K-Cup® waste stream is one of our most significant environmental challenges." They have commissioned a lifecycle analysis to compare drip brew to K-Cup®s, but if they already know it is a significant challenge, in a product line representing half of their sales, it is notable that no other information on alternatives or reasonable goals are available except a statement that they "are working to identify the right definition of environmentally friendly."
People have the choice to buy the reusable filter model (although it got bad reviews for durability), but assuming that their convenience-loving customers like the no fuss product, but also care about issues like fair trade, why is such a connected company not moving faster on this high impact issue?
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Comments
Fair Trade is NOT an environmental program
First of all, Fair Trade has absolutely nothing to do with environmentalism. It is a socio-economic problem: that's it. Let's not blur the lines of all causes into one amorphous blob, OK?
Secondly, only addressing the waste of consumption is only half the problem -- at most. The waste of unnecessary manufacturing and production is equally problematic for the environment.
RE: Single-Cup
Thanks for providing a balanced analysis of this complex issue.
As you stated in your post, improving the environmental impact of our K-Cup® packaging materials is one of our top priorities. I thought it would be helpful to give you and your readers an update on recent progress we’ve made.
As we mention on our web site, we commissioned a life-cycle analysis of our three main package types to give us a more concrete scientific understanding of the environmental impacts of our packaging choices, which, in turn, will help us direct our ongoing R&D efforts more effectively. We are hopeful that we will complete this analysis by the end of 2009.
We’re also actively researching alternate materials for the K-Cup portion pack to reduce its environmental impact. The system requirements are pretty rigorous – the package needs to provide an oxygen and moisture barrier as well as a high thermal threshold – so it’s been challenging to find alternatives. However, we’ve had some promising results in recent months with a specific formulation and we hope to be testing it in a production setting this summer. If that goes well, we’ll aim to be test marketing it this fall, and then hopefully in market with the new package in 2010.
As you mention, we are also trying to make progress in other areas while we work on the K-Cup challenge. For example, Fair Trade Certified™coffee now represents over 30% of our coffee shipped. In addition to the socio-economic benefits Fair Trade certified products provide, these products must meet environmental standards as well, and there are also incentives for farmers for organic conversion, reforestation, water conservation and environmental education. Visit Trans Fair USA’s website for more detailed information on Fair Trade Certification Standards.
We understand your concerns about the K-Cup and will continue to keep our web site up-to-date with our progress on this issue.