John Sylvan, creator of K-cups, regrets his invention.
Even though most of us want to kiss him for making our mornings less stressful with the touch of a button, Sylvan acknowledges that K-cups could be damaging the environment.
The cup-like capsules are disposable and not recyclable, which means that most consumers - if not all - are tossing the containers into the garbage and none of the materials are being reused.
Sylvan himself admitted that he does not use his own product.
"I feel bad sometimes that I ever did it," he told The Atlantic in an interview.
The harmful impact on the environment is not the only reason Sylvan feels bad; the price of K-cups is way too high.
"Plus, it's not like drip coffee is hard to make," he added.
Apparently not that high, though, because Keurig coffee machines are present everywhere. Some households have two or more for convenience.
Monique Oxender, the chief sustainability officer for Keurig Green Mountain, said the pods are "fully recyclable" but a person must disassemble them into paper, plastic and metal parts, ABC News reported. Sounds like a lot of work to have a cup of joe without feeling guilty about it.
"I gotta be honest with you," Oxender said. "We're not happy with where we are either. We have to get a solution, and we have to get it in place quickly."
Sylvan can express his concern, but he can't do much about the problem because he sold the company for $50,000 back in 1997, and brewing company Green Mountain now owns it, according to Fox 8.
"I told them how to improve it, but they don't want to listen," he said.
He mentioned the concept of reusable cups, but Keurig has not been open to the idea of using them in its machines.
Keurig is "committed to making 100% of K-Cup packs recyclable by 2020" and the company is working to limit water use as well.
