Question : Can I make a machine that can recycle K-Cups?

Hypothesis: I will be able to think of a way to recycle K-Cups but the machine will be too expensive to make and manufacture.

Procedure :

1.E-mail and talk to Keurig reps to see what can be done.

2.Talk to local farms to see ask questions about coffee grounds. (. Will they pay for them, etc.)

3.Talk to people who know about recycling to determine if this is possible.

4.Talk to someone who could build the machine. Or Decide weather or not I am making a model for K-Cups.

5.Talk to consumers to see if: a) They have a Keurig b) If yes, do they know that this is an issue? c) Do they care? d) If they care, are they willing to help do something more to recycle?

6. Also research about how much of the ground are filling the land fills.

7. Create ways to split up all the materials and recycle

{------------ Whats inside a K-Cup?

The reason you can't recycle K-cups are because of how many materials they have in them. You can recycle plastic,the foil lid, and the filter but not together. There are coffee grounds which cant be recycled as the other products can, however, they can be used for fertilizer. With my process it organizes the materials into different places to be recycled.

My mom took a Facebook survey with the following questions :

a) Do you have a product of Keurig

b) If yes, do they know that recycling is an issue?

c) Do they care?

d) If they care, are they willing to help do something more to recycle - Like going to a place where the machine is.

Did you know?

There is enough k-cups in landfills to circle the earth 10.5 times!

The inventor of the k-cup wishes he had never done it.

Last year Keurig sold about 9.8 billion k-cups. Thats enough k-cups to circle the Earth 10.5 times! That is Keurig alone and there are many more companies that produce k-cups, some imagine the real number. The k-cups sold last year will fill the 2.1 million square foot MetLife stadium 9.5 times! Per my survey, if we recycled 70 % of the k-cups used annually, it would keep 6.86 billion k-cups, or more, out of landfills. That eliminates 6.5 of the 9.5 MetLife stadiums filled with k-cups.

Data is from a survey filled out by 100 people:

Conclusion

I was able to design a machine on the computer that will recycle the cup from beginning to end. What I found interesting is that most people who owned Keurigs didn’t know that k-cups are not recyclable. The information I collected from surveys was that out of 100 people, 81% of them owned Keurigs. Of that 81%, 57% of the people did not know k-cups are not recyclable. Also, 75% of people care about the issue and 70% of the 81% are willing to do something to help the cause (like take their used k-cups to a location where they will be recycled). This means that of the 9.8 billion Keurig k-cups sold last year, 6.86 billion would be recycled and not fill up landfills. I only looked at Keurig numbers and there are many other companies that make k-cups (which means that there are many more out there). My hypothesis was correct in the fact that people would recycle given a chance, and that the machine I designed would work. But I was wrong that it would be too expensive because a big conveyor belt machine like mine could probably be made inexpensively so you could have one at central locations where people could drop them off. This project could change the world and save space in landfills everywhere. I hope someone makes a machine like mine that can recycle k-cups and help the world. I am very happy that I did this project because I feel it would help save our environment.

Abstract

Shaun Bustin

Did you know that Keurig’s mastermind invention, the k-cup, is not recyclable? I decided to see if I could design a machine that would recycle them. I wanted to try to design this because billions and billions of k-cups are filling up our landfills and we need to find a way to recycle them. I had to get a lot of information and do a survey to see if people knew or cared about this. I hypothesised that I would be able to plan the machine and it would work, but the machine would be too expensive to make and manufacture. I wasn’t sure, though, if people would even be willing to do extra work to have them recycled.

After a few ideas and failed tests, I got an idea to make the machine on a conveyor belt. First the k-cup moves along and gets the aluminum foil cut off, the aluminum is collected and packaged for recycling. Then the cup drops into the water where the coffee grounds get washed out and sorted and the filter loosens in the cup. The coffee grounds will then be dried and sent to local farms or local neighbors for use as fertilizer. (I spoke to Farmer Ali at Beach Plum Farm and he said that he would be willing to accept them and he would mix the coffee grounds in with horse manure and use for fertilization.) After that a knife cuts off the filter and then all of the parts of the cup can be recycled. If this machine could be a reality, k-cups could be collected and recycled.

My Mom sent out a the survey on Facebook. The information I got was that out of 100 people who responded, 81% of the people owned Keurigs and of those 81%, 53% of them didn’t even know that k-cups were not recyclable. The majority of the people in the survey said they cared about the problem and would be willing to do something (like take the cups to a location for recycling by a machine) to support the cause.

I was successful in my design of the machine. I tested each stage and they all worked out well. My prediction was correct that I had the ability and idea to design a machine and that it could be made, but I was wrong that it would be too expensive. It will not be because if you make the machines and have one in central locations throughout the states, people would be able to bring them to the machine. My survey shows that people are willing to this do this. The cost of the machine is small next to the cost of our earth. I am glad I did this project because I learned a lot about recycling and the safety of the earth. I think that I can make a difference!