To Keurig or not to Keurig?

As the Holiday Season explodes all around us, I see people everywhere buying Keurigs for their loved ones.  Believe me, I totally get it.  I LOVE all things coffee: the smell, the anticipation, the ritual, the taste.  I have two cups a day.  Every. Single. Day.  There is nothing like a fresh cup.  And what better way to enjoy it then to be able to make just one cup whenever you need it?

The problem lies in what becomes of all those little coffee cartridges.  An article in the LA Times in January 2012 estimated that NINE BILLION cartridges had been sold and that 46% of new purchases of coffee makers were of single serve machines.  NINE BILLION. (Does anyone else hear the principal saying "Ferris has been absent NINE times" when they read this?")  And the cartridges are not currently recyclable (not in a widespread easy way).  This data is now nearly two year old.  How many more cartridges have been sold in the past 23 months? 

If you have a Keurig, please don't get rid of it!  That would just contribute more waste.  But please do consider purchasing a refillable filter to use instead of disposable cartridges.  There are tons of choices and price ranges.  And the clean up is simple - just rinse out the refillable filter.

If you are considering purchasing some type of single serving coffee maker, I recommend taking a look at the Hamilton Beach The Scoop™ Single-Serve Coffeemaker.  I tried this at my aunt's house and loved it.  You take whatever vessel you are planning to drink from, fill it with water, pour it in the top, fill a little filter with coffee, press the bottom and ta-da!  A fresh, hot, single cup of coffee!  The cleanup is simple - just rinse out the little coffee filter.  Or if you currently have enough useless electronic sh*t in your house, consider a ceramic coffee dripper.  Another benefit if you share a home or office with someone is that you can enjoy your organic free-range coffee picked from the rain forest by shamans while they enjoy their hazelnut flavored Folgers.

Personal confessions on my own crimes against the environment:
At one point in the not so distant past, I was buying my two cups a day five days a week from Dunkin' Donuts.  Then, I participated in a beach clean-up in Boston Harbor and has the displeasure of collecting little bits of blown apart Styrofoam for hours.

I've changed my own habits in three ways: I try to make a pot in the morning and take a stainless steel travel mug with me to work which I rinse and take to Dunks in the afternoon for a refill (a refill is cheaper BTW).  Or, I take my REI stainless French press with me to work filled with grounds and I use the electric kettle at my office to brew a cup in the morning and a cup in the afternoon from the secret reserve stash of grounds in the base.  Or I simply take an empty travel mug with me to work and get it filled in the morning and afternoon at Dunks. 

By doing any of these things, I am personally reducing the number of cups going into a landfill by at least 400 each year.  And I'm saving a little money too.  Imagine the exponential difference for the environment if all of us made and drank our coffee just a little differently!  Get out there and change the world - one bean at a time :)