How To Reuse K Cups

When it comes to trash, most of us want to generate less of it. There are practical reasons for this (I mean, who really wants to take out the trash more than you already are, right?). But there are also do-good-for-the-earth reasons to limit the number of things that you throw away.

For K-cup fans, it can be hard to balance their need for great coffee with their need or desire to limit trash. After all, using those K-cups, or going through multiple ones of them every day, can be a huge addition to the general trash load. And going through a lot of them also generates a lot of plastic that has to be managed. So what can K-cup coffee lovers do to counteract this? One good idea is to find other uses for the plastic pieces. Check out all the ideas in this graphic for ways to put your K-cup one-use coffee provider into better use (and to skip the trash, too).

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K-Cup Statistics

• 29% of American coffee drinkers used single-serve coffee brewing machines in 2017.
• There are 23 million Keurig machines in North American homes.
• The number of K-Cups deposited in landfills every year could wrap around the planet more than 10 times.
• New, more environmentally-friendly K-Cups are recyclable, but they are not compostable.

K-Cup Plant Pot For Seeds

1. Make sure each K-Cup is thoroughly rinsed and dried.
2. Add some potting mix and a seed to each K-Cup.
3. Make sure to label your seed cups so you can remember what you planted.
4. Watering the seeds is a cinch, because K-Cups already have a hole at the bottom that will help drain the excess water.

K-Cup for Popsicles 

1. Cover the hole in the bottom of K-Cups.
2. Fill them with juice, coffee, tea, or another liquid.
3. Pop the K-Cups in the freezer for about an hour. Then add popsicle sticks to each K-Cup and allow them to freeze overnight.