Don’t put K-cups in the recycling bin! Unfortunately, they must be disposed of in the landfill or mailed in through a special recycling program (see below).
Coffee pods are made from a combination of plastic, aluminum, organic materials (coffee grounds), and a paper filter. While these items could potentially be recycled separately, the coffee pod as a whole cannot be recycled in our single-stream system.
However, even if separated, the plastic cup and a single aluminum lid could not be recycled, because individually they would be less than 2″ – the minimum size for all materials to be processed for recycling at the MRF.
For a less wasteful-option that still allows you to make a single cup of joe at a time, consider reusable coffee pods. As a bonus, you’ll be able to fill it with fresher coffee than the grounds that come in the pre-packaged single-use pods.
Mail-in recycling options
- Recycle A Cup allows you to separate the plastic cups from the other materials, save them up and ship to:
- Medelco, Incorporated, Att: RAC Processing, 54 Washburn Street, Bridgeport, CT 06605
- Preserve Gimme 5 offers drop-off locations, or mail-in options for recycling by shipping to:
- Preserve Gimme 5, 823 State Route 13], Cortland, NY 13045-6574
- Keurig’s “Grounds to Grow On” program sells “recovery bins” for storage of large quantities of K-Cups
- Terracycle sells boxes to recycle coffee discs and capsules in