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Coffee pods

Disposal options

Photo by GMCR.
  • Coffee pods made of plastic, such as K-Cups, should be disposed of with regular household trash. They do not belong in the recycling bin.

Mail-in recycling options

While K-Cups can’t be recycled in the facilities we have in Chittenden County,  mail-in options exist:

  • Recycle A Cup allows you to separate the plastic cups from the other materials, save them up and ship to: Medelco, Incorporated, Att: RAC Processing, 54 Washburn Street, Bridgeport, CT 06605
  • Preserve Gimme 5 offers drop-off locations, or mail-in options for recycling by shipping to: Preserve Gimme 5, 823 State Route 13], Cortland, NY 13045-6574
  • Keurig’s “Grounds to Grow On” program sells “recovery bins” for storage of large quantities of K-Cups. Learn more on their webpage.
  • Terracycle sells boxes to recycle coffee discs and capsules in. Learn more their webpage.

Coffee pods with a simple fabric or paper shell – and no other material – can be composted in a backyard composting pile, placed in the food scrap bins at CSWD Drop-Off Centers or picked up by a food scrap hauler. If not composted, they can be thrown in the trash.

Notes

Don’t put K-Cups in your recycling bin

K-Cups are made from a combination of plastic, aluminum, organic material (coffee grounds) and a paper filter. While these items could potentially be recycled separately, the K-Cup as a whole cannot be recycled in our single-stream system.

Even if separated, the plastic cup and a single aluminum lid could not be recycled in our single-stream recycling facility (MRF), because individually they would be less than 2″ – the minimum size for all materials to be processed for recycling at the MRF.

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