Anybody seen a good idea what can be done with used K cups?

[TreasonousBastard]

[MerryBlooms]

1. First, stop using non reusable. Secon: Poke holes in bottoms

For seed starts. Indoor herb garden. Garden measuring for fertilizer and miracle grow. Shred for drainage in hard clay soil, if the plastic is non leaching. Plastic is permanent. Every consumer who makes coffee from a plastic container, or adds creamer from plastic, is a permanent toxic intake into our environment.

[ShepKat]

8. miracle gro...

like getting healthy on a multi vitamin, twinkie and a cigarette.

[canetoad]

2. What's a K cup?

[FailureToCommunicate]

6. I'm imagining it's WAY bigger than a C or D

cup?

(Sorry, couldn’t help it.)

[Sky Jewels]

31. Pfffft. Good one.

K cup sized bras do exist, BTW.

[FailureToCommunicate]

35. I bow to your better knowledge on this subject.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

50. Indeed

And hard to find. Then again, anything over DD is hard to find, and expensive when I do find them.

:::Sigh::::

[sakabatou]

37. Ah, I see you're a person of culture as well.

[JHB]

9. The coffee pod for Keurig one-cup-at-a-time coffee makers.

[canetoad]

34. Ah, those things

Bloody useless, over-engineered pieces of plastic dreck. Thanks for the reply.

[FailureToCommunicate]

36. Some crazy thing "the West" came up with. No

use to you folks down under.

[canetoad]

38. I find them washed up

On the beach. We have them here - called Coffee Pods but I've never used them. Use a Bialetti mokka pot for real italian expresso.

[FailureToCommunicate]

42. Ewww. Sorry your beach-combing finds that junk.

I always wonder how trash that goes to a land fill or is incinerated, gets to the ocean. It is boating people, just chucking crap overboard?

[canetoad]

46. I believe some of it is

I've found stuff that probably comes from a cruise ship or a car/cargo carrier, including some coffee pods that were European in origin. There's not a constant stream of big vessels going past; most of our beach junk is small plastic fragments (I come home with a pocketful every day) or commercial fishing trash, which I think is the biggest plastic ocean polluter in the world.

[NowISeetheLight]

3. Amazon

I bought some reusable "load your own" on Amazon last year. I like Seattle's Best morning blend and make my own. They work great and are better for the environment.

[dembotoz]

4. switched to refillable k cups before my latest machine died

used coffee grounds go into the garden

[Kaleva]

5. I get the grounds out to add to the compost

Last edited Wed Jul 19, 2023, 07:18 AM - Edit history (1)

The empty cups I'll stuff in a larger container that I'm tossing out.

[jimfields33]

7. I put them in recycling

We have separate garbage and recycling cans that go out weekly. I put 14 K cups (2 cups a day) in recycling. Everybody has to do their part to save the planet. Nothing is too small.

[edisdead]

11. And many (most?) places that goes into the garbage.

Here in Minneapolis much of the recycling gets incinerated.

[jimfields33]

12. That's weird for one of the most progressive states.

Voters should complain.

[edisdead]

33. Has nothing to do with voters

There isn't anyone taking the plastic these days. China was our biggest purchased of recyclable plastic and unless something changed, that dried up.

Older article but worth a read:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/22/is-recycling-a-waste-heres-the-answer-from-a-plastics-expert.html

[former9thward]

44. It's not weird.

Last edited Wed Jul 19, 2023, 09:25 PM - Edit history (1)

It is what all states do. Plastic is not accepted by most recyclers for many reasons. Too much of it, most of it not suitable for recycling. Paper and metals are in the same boat. Everyone recycles but no one asks what happens to it.

[we can do it]

15. They have coffee grounds in them, not recyclable unless you empty them.

[FreeState]

27. It will depend where you live too

In San Diego they are considered not recyclable. (Old article but I cant find anything new after that date: https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/keurig-cups-recycle-biodegradable/2075272/)

https://www.recycleacup.com/recycling/

[FailureToCommunicate]

40. True. I tried the aluminum ones (Nespresso)

AAand had to carefully empty each little cup.
That got old REAL fast.
Back to old fashioned plunger coffee.

[Scrivener7]

10. Avoid them entirely. Scooping coffee into a filter is not difficult.

It's also a ton better for the environment and for your health.

Did you know this?:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17456796/
Cafestol, a diterpene present in unfiltered coffee brews ... is the most potent cholesterol-elevating compound known in the human diet.

Keurigs don't have a paper filter.

I never used a Keurig but I used to use a French press. I switched to filtered coffee and my cholesterol dropped like a stone.

[Bettie]

14. If you use refillable pods

you can get filters for them as well. We used to do that, but we went back to a regular coffee machine after our Keurig died.

However, one of my sons has one in his dorm. He drinks one cup of coffee a day, so a regular machine isn't a great option for him at this point in his life.

[we can do it]

16. Do reusable metal filters work, or does it have to be paper?

[Scrivener7]

21. I think it has to be paper. But don't quote me.

[we can do it]

22. Good to know, I have both metal and paper, like paper better.

[Scrivener7]

23. Totally blew my mind when I learned about it. I adored my French press. But the

switch back has been worth it.

[we can do it]

25. Love French press, too. And was drinking mostly that and espresso for 3-4 years.

My cholesterol did go up and I’m an exercise freak and haven’t changed diet🤔

[BlackSkimmer]

17. I love my French Press.

Only problem I have with the press is that the coffee never seems to stay hot enough in the winter.

[Scrivener7]

20. I loved mine too. Till I noticed what it did to my cholesterol.

I had one that had the stainless carafe. Kept it hot.

[BlackSkimmer]

24. Yes, my cholesterol has always been fine, but I am aware of that.

I read about that some years ago, and it's interesting.

I have a glass carafe...maybe I should try a steel one.

[csziggy]

28. Before I gave up coffee I got a one cup machine that has a metal filter

Since it allowed a little of the grounds through, I cut regular filters down to reduce that and it worked great. I still have that machine and my old 12 cup coffee maker, but haven't made coffee in either for years.

I can use K cups, but I will never buy any - too wasteful.

[TheBlackAdder]

13. I have a Nespresso and use Capmesso foil lids to reuse the pods dozens of times each.

.

I know that Keurig has a screen refillable cup and there are cheaper plastic versions and silicone ones. Keurig doesn't produce the taste and texture quality that a Nespresso machine does, including the crema at the top, so I gave my Keurig machine to Goodwill. The Capmesso foils are 10 cents a pod and with the coffee and 2 minutes to clean and load a pod, it's less than $20 cents.

When I had the Keurig, I switched to refillable and then I could buy whatever coffee I wanted on the cheap, around 10 cents a pod.

.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. Why use them at all? Most expensive cup of coffee outside of Starbucks.

[Sympthsical]

19. Surrously

I get the giant can of Folgers from Costco for $12 and a regular cuisenart drip maker. Lasts about a month and a half.

I like gourmet coffee sometimes, too, but my daily morning beverage shouldn't come perilously close to the appearance and expense of a smack addiction.

But then I don't get wine either, and I live around Napa. My friends think it's a tragedy I live here and just don't care.

[BlackSkimmer]

26. Oh, but you don't understand. We coffee nuts will do anything for our fix.

Pourover, French Press, you name it...I've had it. Coffee person here.

In fact I discovered pour-over long before it was cool.

After a hurricane had ruined everything in my kitchen, I used a (clean) sock to put coffee in, then poured boiling water over it. Into a cup.

I needed it that morning very badly...hurricanes always seem to come at night.

[Sympthsical]

29. I do get it

Every morning I make a 16 oz yeti thermos of coffee I sip from at my desk all day. I have a french press, aeropress, and some kind of tiny metal pot with detachable water and mesh cup thing you put on the stove that looks like we found it in a Victorian yard sale. We have tea infusers and a Dutch East Indies pirate ship in the garage for some reason. I have no idea why we have what we have.

I just can't be hassled that early in the morning. My partner's best friend has some kind of Starbucks addiction. He physically goes to a shop two to three times a day. He called here the other day at 8:40p to let us know his free breakfast coupon was about to expire that day and did we want to go pick it up.

I mean, of course I went.

But the Keurig cups and things and overly complicated machinations. Drip, 25 cents a day, lazy.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

52. I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of a Keurig owner

To figure out the appeal of the machine. And when that didn't work, I asked around.

My son tells me Keurig is super-popular with young people on their own for the first time, especially those who have never made coffee themselves. They don't have to "think" about measuring or filters or any of that. Just fill up the water tank, pop in the pod, and let 'er rip, as he put it.

He also tells me the "don't think about it" part also seems to appeal to people who don't want the bother of making room in limited cupboard space for a big can of coffee, getting filters from that same limited space, measuring, and all that. I also remember some of the kids in my college classes talking about how knackered they were in the mornings from working full time jobs and going to college. I can see how the last thing they would want to do in the morning is try to figure out a coffee pot, when they don't even know who they are yet, LOL. I can kinda sorta remember having mornings like those when I was a singleton with two jobs, so I can see how a K-cup would be much easier than dealing with other coffeemakers.

I also know that at our local grocer's, they have the most difficult time keeping up with all of their variety pack K-cup offerings. That means the K-cup is probably popular with people who like to switch what coffee they drink, day to day. If you think about someone living alone with eclectic coffee tastes, it's probably a lot cheaper to buy a K-cup variety pack than buying a similar number of different whole bean coffees. Most whole or ground coffees come in a size that is both expensive, up front, and then might get stale before a singleton could get to it all. So I can see the Keurig being ideal in that situation.

Do I have one myself? No, and I never will, because none of those things above apply to my household's situation. But I can see how single people, people who don't drink a lot of coffee often, and people with demanding lives or limited cupboard space would find the Keurig a better choice than a regular coffee machine.

[sinkingfeeling]

53. Thanks for the explanations. However, I'll counter with it takes me around 15

seconds to put 10 scoops of ground coffee in a filter and a tad longer to fill the pot with water and push 'start' on my 14 cup Cuisinart. Pre-ground bags of coffee will stay fresh indefinitely when placed in the freezer. I always have coffee, so make a pot every 24 hours and a 'can' (about 25 oz., but used to be 3 lbs.) last me around a month at $8 or $9.

Way more inexpensive than K-cups.

[Hekate]

54. About 40 cents per cup for K-pods bought at Costco. That's hardly in the Starbucks league.

[sinkingfeeling]

55. I pay around two and a half cents per cup with a drip coffee maker.

[lame54]

30. Shot glasses

[Ms. Toad]

49. Only if you like a wet shirt front.

They have a hole in the bottom.

[maxsolomon]

32. 1. Costco sells compostable K cups

2. If you can recycle plastic tubs, fill a yogurt tub with them, put the lid back on on, put it in the recycling. I do this with all my plastic lids and containers

[sakabatou]

39. No idea since I use instant coffee grounds

[mcar]

41. You can buy reusable pods

and fill them with your own coffee/tea. That's what I did when I had one.

[Act_of_Reparation]

43. Feed them to billionaires.

[orthoclad]

45. Don't use them is the best idea

MAJOR waste of plastic. Years ago, I read that there were enough used k cups to circle the earth three times.

Plastic does not recycle, despite the greenwashing markings on containers. China stopped taking plastic from the US, largely due to people wishcycling nonrecyclable trash along with recyclable plastic, so there is nobody to process the plastic. Remember that huge fire a few months ago at a "recycling" plant that had acres of trash laying around for years?

You can buy mini drip makers. I have one. Even if you waste half the coffee, it's cheaper than k rations. Don't support the single-use plastic industry.

[NickB79]

47. I use Cameron's brand biodegradable cups

Made here in Minnesota. No plastic; the hard parts are apparently a biodegradable plant-based polymer.

Really like their toasted pecan flavor.

[Deep State Witch]

48. We empty ours

We save ours up, empty them out, compost the coffee grounds, and recycle the cups.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

51. I wondered what became of the little pods

After usage.

Don't have one of these machines, but I've dealt with them from hotels offering them en suite before COVID. I can kinda see how that usage makes sense for a business. The machine and pods take up hardly any space, and no need to stock filters, all of which has advantages to them, I'm sure. The serving size from the pod also fits the disposable cups that a hotel tends to have on their beverage counter.

We've never even looked at a Keurig for personal use, though, because the cost of the coffee is much higher than regular coffee. Also, our coffee mugs are far too big for what Keurig calls one serving, LOL. If a machine can't fill up our normal mug, then we have no use for it.

[hunter]

56. Toss them out with the trash so they can be buried at the landfill.

If you are still burning fossil fuels for heating, cooking, electricity, and transportation then K-cups disposed of properly are a negligible concern.

How much does a K cup weigh compared to a gallon of gasoline? How bad do you feel when you burn a gallon of gas driving, or a gallon of jet fuel flying? All that fossil fuel waste ends up in the atmosphere.

If you bury a K cup it just sits there, eventually becoming a story the geologic record.

We frequently ignore the seemingly insurmountable environmental problems to obsess about the trivial.

It's entirely possible that the K cup system has smaller environmental impacts than any other way of brewing coffee.

[hunter]

57. Had a minute to do the rough math.

How badly do you feel about burning a gallon of gasoline? Burning a gallon of gasoline is roughly equivalent to incinerating a year of K cups if you drink two cups of coffee a day.

Much less carbon emissions if the K cups are simply buried in a landfill.

Annual per capita gasoline consumption in the U.S.A. is about 385 gallons.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/gasoline/use-of-gasoline.php

[TreasonousBastard]

58. Interesting calculation. Do you know that there is no such thing as a...

truly disposable plastic cup? The ones advertised have to sit in a landfill for at least 30 years before they decompose, usually more like 100 or more. Poly 5 cups are great for food storage, but won't break down.

Paper, as in paper filters, does break down, and reusable screens don't need to break down. But guess which we're too lazy to use?

I admit to using them, but they are a horrible waste. A waste of coffee, too, since they tend to be overfilled for just one cup.

[hunter]

59. Would I trade a gallon of gasoline, forty or fifty miles in our family car, for the K cups...

... why yes, I would and often do.

The refillable cups work as well, the coffee grounds and paper filters landing in our compost.