He and his wife, for example, often brewed a pot of coffee and "we'd realize we're late and leave two-thirds of the pot there. That is a much greater impact because it went all the way back to the growing community."
Pouring coffee down the sink all the time is not a great idea, certainly. "It is true that wasting food is a serious problem. Forty percent or so of edible food in the U.S. gets thrown away," said Darby Hoover, senior resource specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
But, Hoover said, the cartridges trade one environmental problem for another.
It's tricky to calculate a comparison between the two, she said, but she added that manufacturers could find ways to recycle the cartridges and compost the coffee grounds, or ways to make cartridges that can be recycled.
In fact, anyone can take the trouble to open the pods and compost the tea or coffee at home, Higgins said. Keurig has a program for K-Cups to be collected at workplaces and sent to a company that composts the grounds.
Any changes ahead? "There's nothing I'm in a position to talk about," Dupee of Green Mountain said.
As for the workplace convenience argument, NRDC's Hoover was less than convinced. She said employees could talk to one another before someone made a pot of coffee, adding: "I have to say that many offices have worked this out for years."
