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Sharing Our Commitment for a Better Planet
All of us at Keurig are citizens first and employees second! We are committed
as a company to responsible business practices that sustain our environment for all.
In fact, our parent company Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) is a
leader in developing Fair Trade/Organic coffee blends that are great for coffee
lovers, coffee growers, and our planet. Also GMCR is repeatedly cited for best
practices in business ethics.
As such, we’d like to share what we are doing at Keurig and what we are doing in
cooperation with GMCR to build a better world for both gourmet coffee
lovers…and lovers of best practices in corporate responsibility.
Sustainable Packaging
K-Cup® Portion Pack Packaging is an area of major environmental concern for all consumer product
companies. As the single-cup coffee market and our Keurig brewing systems
grow in popularity, we understand that the impact of the K-Cup® Portion Pack
waste stream is one of our most significant environmental challenges.
The K-Cup package is made up of three main
elements -- the cup itself, a filter and an aluminum foil
top. The polyethylene coating of the foil - as well as
the process of heat-sealing the various elements -
makes recycling difficult.
However, this packaging approach prevents oxygen, light and moisture from degrading the coffee. Without
the barrier the packaging materials provide, we could not maintain the quality and freshness of the coffee,
which means that all the resources and effort put into growing and roasting great coffee would be wasted.
Finding a more environmentally-friendly approach to this packaging challenge is a big priority for us. We are
working on a few different fronts to improve the environmental characteristics of the K-Cup® system,
as well as to mitigate its impact.
Here’s what we are doing
- We are actively researching alternatives to the the K-Cup® Portion Pack’s petroleum –based materials
- We are conducting a Life Cycle Analysis to help us understand the overall
environmental impact of the K-Cup® Portion Pack as compared to the use of a
typical drip- brewer.There are environmental considerations at every step on
the road from “tree to cup”. By studying the K-Cup over its entire life cycle, we
can more clearly understand how and where we can reduce its footprint.
- We are working to identify the right definition of "environmentally friendly" for all our packaging, including the K-Cup Portion Pack. For example it
could mean carbon-neutral, made with renewable materials, recyclable, biodegradable, compostable, petroleum-free, all of the above, or something entirely different.
We are researching what is possible today and tomorrow, taking into account the current state of packaging
technology, consumer preferences, community infrastructure, performance requirements, and the demands of the marketplace.
- We also continue to offer the My K-Cup, a reusable filter cartridge
assembly that can be refilled by the consumer, is easily cleaned, and is
compatible with all Keurig home brewers sold today.
Other Keurig Initiatives
RoHS
The RoHS Directive is a set of European regulations designed to reduce the effect of electronic equipment in the waste stream.
Europe is at the forefront in introducing regulations to better protect the environment. The United States is catching up, but we decided not to wait and
have started to implement the RoHS directive in all our brewers.
We expect to be fully RoHS compliant with all our brewers by the end of 2008.
Power Saving-Energy Conservation
Many of you have asked if our brewers are Energy Star rated. The answer is no.
Even though our brewers are not Energy Star rated, our At Home brewers all have an Auto-Off feature that when selected turns the brewer off a preset time
after the last brew. For the non programmable brewers it is 2 hours. For the programmable brewers it is selectable from 1-9 hours. These also feature
programmable Start and Stop times. When these features are used they provide considerable energy savings.
Recycling Brewers
We have started to add the appropriate recycling symbols to the plastic parts of our brewers. This will assist both consumers and recycling facilities to properly
identify and recycle these components.
Summary
We hope this Environmental Statement has been helpful. If you have further
questions or comments, please contact Sara Mahoney at Keurig, email
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