What to Know About Recycling Roast 2 Order Single-Use Coffee Pods

Here at Roast 2 Order, we recently introduced a new way to enjoy our freshly roasted premium beans: Roast 2 Order single-use coffee pods! These pods offer you a quick, easy way to enjoy the freshness of our coffee. We hope they help those of you who rely on single-serve brewers at home, as well as those of you who commute into the office and want a fast, easy way to bring better coffee for the office brewers.

With the announcement of our new product launch, we got a few questions from our loyal customers. Your questions included:

• Are these coffee pods recyclable?
• How can I tell if my coffee pods can be recycled?
• Do I need to do anything special before recycling a cup from my Roast 2 Order?

We’re pleased to say that you can, indeed, recycle all of the used cartridges from our shop! It’s a fairly quick and easy process that makes single-serve brewing more appealing as a sustainable option.

Keep reading for more information on what makes coffee pods recyclable, how to help ensure your used pods end up actually being recycled, and what to consider about composting.

Are K-Cups® recyclable?

There is a lot of confusion around whether or not K-Cups® and other single-serve coffee pods are recyclable. It’s understandable because things have changed since the Keurig brand first began manufacturing its single-serve coffee pods. There are also several factors to consider when evaluating whether a specific brand of coffee pod is able to be recycled.

These are:

• What type of plastic are the cups themselves made from? Not all types of plastic are able to be picked up for use by local curbside recycling programs. Some pods are made of plastic that’s technically recyclable, but is not accepted by local recyclers. In the end, such plastics often end up in landfills anyway. That’s why Keurig switched to using all polypropylene (or #5 plastic) K-Cups® before the end of 2020.

It’s also why we use cups accepted by most curbside recycling programs. With our product, there’s no need to take the cups miles away to a special recycler; you can add them with your normal recycling.

• Can you separate the recyclable material from the not-recyclable material? Materials (especially food and beverage containers) placed in the recycling need to be clean and uncontaminated in order to be processed by the recycling plant. For coffee pods, this means that the grounds and filter both need to be removed from the plastic component before recycling.
• What about compostable plastic? Some companies use pods that are made of a special compostable plastic material that can be composted (usually by a commercial composting facility, not in your home compost). However, Roast 2 Order did not opt to go with such a material, because compostable coffee pods do not offer any sealing for freshness.

To put it simply, coffee exposed to air will go stale quickly! Therefore, we specifically chose pods that would be able to keep your grounds tasting fresh and ready to brew.

How do I recycle my used coffee pods from Roast 2 Order?

In order to recycle your pods:

1. Brew your delicious cup of Roast 2 Order coffee in your single-serve coffee brewer, according to your brewer’s directions!
2. Remove the used cup from the brewer. Be sure to wait until the grounds inside are cool enough to handle.
3. Remove the top film from the cup. (This can be a little tricky if you’ve never done it before; we have a video demonstrating how to do it in the works! To make things even easier, you can even find tools just for this job, such as the Recycle A Cup cutter.)
4. Discard the top filter, which is not recyclable.
5. Empty the grounds from the cup. (Coffee grounds are amazing for composting!)
6. Rinse and recycle the cup.

What about composting?

While the plastic cup component of Roast 2 Order coffee pods isn’t compostable, the grounds inside sure are! Coffee grounds are a wonderful compostable material for enriching the soil of your garden. This University of Illinois Extension article on home composting is a great resource for getting started.

Can I use Roast 2 Order grounds with my reusable pod?

Absolutely! Using fresh grounds in a reusable pod is another option for people who want the incredible freshness and responsibly sourced goodness of our coffee. Just grind the right amount of your Roast 2 Order beans, fill your reusable pod with the ground coffee, and brew a fresh cup with your single-serve coffee brewer.

What’s the takeaway about our single-use coffee pods?

We began offering coffee pods as an easy, convenient way for our customers to enjoy the freshness of Roast 2 Order. While pods aren’t for everyone, we know plenty of you prefer this style of brewing!

We hope this guide helps you select the right type of Roast 2 Order coffee for your morning pick-me-up and gives you the confidence to recycle your used pods after use. Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re always happy to talk coffee!

Ready to get recycling? Try our line of freshly roasted coffees, now available in single-serve coffee pods!