A Vancouver-based company has come up with 100 per cent compostable coffee pods as a solution to uneconomical and incredibly wasteful K-Cups.
The plastic single-serve coffee pods designed for Keurig machines have exploded in popularity, but the garbage it creates has become a global problem. A Mother Jones report said the number of K-Cups produced in in 2013 was enough to wrap around the planet 10.5 times.
Even the pods' creator has said he regrets creating them in the first place.
As an alternative, G-Kups are held together with a bamboo and sugar cane sleeve, with a biodegradable polymer lining that can withstand boiling water. The Vancouver company patented the invention in February, said Business in Vancouver.
"The current waste created by K-Cups is unacceptable," said G-Kup CEO Darren Footz. "Simply put, I want to change the way the world consumes single-serve coffee."
The company posted photos on Instagram, apparently taken four weeks apart, to show just how quickly the pods break down in the compost:
Scientists at the University of British Columbia are helping get G-Kups certified with money from federal grants, according to CTV Vancouver.
Footz told the outlet that G-Kups could be popping up on the market by 2016.
A Toronto company called Club Coffee is also working on a version of compostable, single-serve pods, dubbed PῧrPod100. They were still in the testing process and had not yet been certified by compost manufacturers as of last April.
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