For many, it’s hard to imagine getting through the day without their morning coffee. Drive-thrus, convenience stores and cafes certainly see a lot of business in the a.m., but buying that hot cup o’ Joe every morning can add up by the end of the week. Not to mention, the waste produced by plastic and Styrofoam to-go cups can wreak havoc on the ecosystem. Budget and environmentally conscious folks increasingly choose to brew their coffee at home, and how could you not? With drip-pour and French press options available, the perfect cup of goodness only takes a few minutes out of the morning routine, and the payoff is a quality drink and caffeine buzz to jumpstart your day.
In the United States, the sale of coffee pods, including K-cups, has soared in the last decade. According to the Washington Post, one out of every three dollars spent on coffee in the U.S. is spent on a coffee pod. These disposable little cups are virtually mess free and ultra convenient. However, the toll this beverage packaging takes on the world around us – not to mention our wallets – is troubling. Once a single-serve Kuerig machine is purchased, coffee drinkers have no other option but to purchase grounds packed in plastic containers formatted specifically to fit in the machine. This can cost customers $50 to $60 per pound of coffee.
What’s worse, those single-serving coffee cups can’t be recycled, and piles of the discarded plastic pods are creating a large amount of waste. Kuerig’s Green Mountain coffee brand is facing pressure to make all of its beverage pods recyclable by 2020, according to NPR, but imagine how much trash will be piling up in the next five years.
Fortunately, there is a solution. Kuerig owners don’t have to toss out their expensive brewing machines and switch back to the classic drip method of brewing. Keurig and others have released reusable coffee filters perfectly sized for coffee pod machines. This is good news for coffee roasters since customers don’t have to make a switch to a new kind of roasted coffee packaging – they can buy their favorite beans and scoop them right into a reusable cup. It’s cost efficient, better for the environment and still as convenient as ever.
Roasters can use their beverage packaging to communicate an eco-friendly message to customers opting to use single-cup brewing machines. Kraft stand up pouches are an excellent option for packaging coffee, with their natural look, durable kraft paper exterior, and low cost. Traditional foil coffee bags are expensive, unstable and let in a high amount of oxygen. Coffee roasters know oxygen and moisture are a coffee bean’s nemesis, and bags that do not feature a protective resealable closure are bad news for the quality of the product and integrity of the brand.
By placing beans or grounds in kraft stand up pouches, your roasted coffee bags act as a canvas to illustrate the green practices of your business. Eco-minded coffee lovers are apt to choose a brand that cares about the planet. People seeking out their next caffeine fix can feel good about their purchase when the brand they choose doesn’t feel it needs to buy into an environmentally damaging fad. New packaging solutions show customers you’re willing to move past the old ways of doing things for a more sustainable product and future.