Inventor of the disposable 'K-Cups' for Keurig coffeemakers: I feel bad for inventing them

John Sylvan invented the individual coffee pods known as "K-Cups." They are incredibly popular:

Almost one in three American homes now has a pod-based coffee machine, even though Sylvan never imagined they would be used outside of offices. Last year K-Cups accounted for most of Keurig Green Mountain’s $4.7 billion in revenue—more than five times what the company made five years prior.

And because of those skyrocketing sales, the K-Cups are now becoming a huge problem for the environment. Each year enough K-Cups are sold to circle the earth 10.5 times.

And, therein lies the problem. Although Keurig claims they are recyclable, that really isn't true at all:

“No matter what they say about recycling, those things will never be recyclable,” Sylvan said. “The plastic is a specialized plastic made of four different layers." The cups are made from plastic #7, a mix that is recyclable in only a handful of cities in Canada. That plastic keeps the coffee inside protected like a nuclear bunker, and it also holds up during the brewing process. A paper prototype failed to accomplish as much.

Sylvan has expressed regret:

Looking back on his invention, amid increasing public condemnation of K-Cups as a scourge on the planet, Sylvan told me, “I feel bad sometimes that I ever did it.”

Read more on the John Sylvan and the environmental disaster of the K-Cup in this excellent article from John Hamblin at The Atlantic.