Are K-Cups Bad For The Environment? [VIDEO]

In our house, mornings start with a hot cup of coffee. Who doesn't love coffee? It tastes amazing, and I'd be DOA by the time I rolled up to the office if I didn't have at least one cup. A few years ago, we switched our traditional coffee pot for a Keurig single-serve brewing system, and we're not alone: an estimated 1 in 5 adults drank coffee from a K-Cup system yesterday.

But what happens to those cups after we've brewed a hot cup of caffeinated goodness? I'll be honest: I don't recycle our used cups. It's a near impossible task--you have to separate the plastic cup from its aluminum top, and then you have to remove the used coffee grounds. That's a lot of work for a tiny little cup.

I don't recycle our cups, but we have started using an eco-brew cup. It's like an itty bitty filter cup that you load with coffee or tea and place into the Keurig just like an actual K-Cup. Why did we make the switch?

Think about it for a moment: all of those K-Cups are going in the trash. According to Mother Jones, 9.8 billion (BILLION!) Keurig-brewed portion packs were sold last year; that's enough to circle the Earth TEN AND A HALF TIMES.

And that's from a single year--think of how many cups we're tossing, and you start to see the big picture. Don't get me wrong--I love our Keurig. It's basically my favorite appliance. I don't plan on getting rid of it... EVER. I'm just shocked to see the staggeringly huge impact these tiny cups are having on our planet.

Also (real talk moment): those little suckers are EXPENSIVE. The New York Times did the math, and the coffee in our beloved single-serve cups is... wait for it... $50 a pound. FIFTY DOLLARS A POUND. You might as well just brew up a cup of unicorn horns, printer ink, and Fabergé eggs.

If you make the switch to a reusable cup for your Keurig, you can save some cash and the planet. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

Check out the video below--it's a unique perspective on K-Cups and their impact on the environment. (You may want to turn your speakers down--it gets a little loud. And there are a couple of curse words, and your boss probably won't be down with that. Just looking out for y'all.)