Keurig caught making ‘inaccurate’ recycling claims about its coffee pods

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Keurig made “inaccurate statements” astir the recyclability of its single-use java pods, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institution agreed to a cease-and-desist order, and to wage a $1.5 cardinal civilian punishment to settee the charges.

Corporate recycling claims tin beryllium misleading

It’s a adjuvant reminder that many firm recycling claims tin beryllium misleading. Certain types of integrative are harder to recycle than others. Even if thing is supposedly recyclable, it tin extremity up successful the trash if the benignant of integrative is not accepted by a municipal recycling program.

The charges against Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. stem from its 2019 and 2020 yearly reports, which said that the institution tested and “validate[d] that [K-Cup pods] tin beryllium efficaciously recycled.” But the institution failed to disclose accusation astir cardinal challenges with recycling the pods, the SEC said successful its announcement this week:

Keurig did not disclose that 2 of the largest recycling companies successful the United States had expressed important concerns to Keurig regarding the commercialized feasibility of curbside recycling of K-Cup pods astatine that clip and indicated that they did not presently mean to judge them for recycling. In fiscal twelvemonth 2019, income of K-Cup pods comprised a important percent of nett income of Keurig’s java systems concern segment, and probe earlier conducted by a Keurig subsidiary indicated that biology concerns were a important origin that definite consumers considered, among others, erstwhile deciding whether to acquisition a Keurig brewing system.

The institution neither confirms nor denies immoderate wrongdoing by agreeing to wage the settlement, the SEC says. As of Friday morning, Keurig’s website inactive says its K-Cup pods person been recyclable since the extremity of 2020. Before 2020, galore of the pods were made with No. 7 plastic, considered a “catch-all” designation for difficult-to-recycle materials, according to Consumer Reports.

Now Keurig says the pods are made with No. 5 integrative oregon polypropylene, which is besides commonly utilized for yogurt containers and straws. It’s inactive considered more hard to recycle than Plastic No. 1, oregon PET, utilized successful h2o and different beverage bottles.

In 2022, Greenpeace surveyed each 375 residential worldly recycling facilities operating successful the US and recovered that 52 percent of them accepted tubs and containers made of integrative No. 5. But lone 1 of them accepted java pods, the survey found. Some brands person their ain programs, however, that let customers to vessel them their utilized pods oregon driblet them disconnected astatine store locations for recycling.

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