How, indeed?
Many, many years later I have a confession.
I've put the tea bags away (for the most part). Like many Americans, I am a coffee drinker.
Today, in the United States, it is National Coffee Day. To celebrate, a number of chains selling coffee have specials.
But there is an underside to National Coffee Day. Its name is K-Cup, and I have a Konfession.
I use them. Yes, I hang my head in shame, but we all have our vices. I love them. In theory.
A K-Cup is a single serve convenient way to make coffee, and right now they are quite popular in our country. They are easy - you stick them in a special coffee maker, close the lid, add water and a couple of minutes later, coffee! (maybe not the best coffee, but coffee). When you have company, your guest can choose their favorite.
Shown above, you can see the problem. They consist of ground coffee, filter, and lots and lots of plastic. Which, incidentally, is not recyclable. Yet.
So into landfills they go, because few of us have the time or patience to disassemble our K-Cups. Which, actually, I used to do (somewhat) back when I practiced worm agriculture. I fed the worms the used grounds. But that isn't good enough for our environment.
It seems that even the creator of K-Cups regrets what they have become.
The top K-Cup above is an attempt to make a better K-Cup. And, you know what? It makes a good cup of coffee. But it isn't good enough.
So let's celebrate National Coffee Day with a good cup of coffee, and hope that we don't drown in a sea of non recycled K-Cups before they come up with a solution.
True confession time for you, my reader. Do you drink coffee? Do you use K-Cups?
