Over the last few months I posted articles concerning various aspects of choosing sustainable coffee and snacks and provided some examples of each. For example, coffee should be Fair Trade CertifiedTM as well as certified organic by the USDA. Being Rainforest Alliance certified is good as well as it means that certain measures have been taken in order to prevent deforestation prior to planting the coffee plants. Another plus would be if the coffee comes in paper bags instead of plastic containers or metal cans.
One item I did not cover, and which has garnered many questions, is whether there is a sustainable alternative for Keurig K-Cups. At first, I was not very hopeful that there would be a positive answer to this question as not only is there the issue of finding an alternative that is Fair Trade CertifiedTM, but also one that does not come in the typical plastic containers or cups and is compostable. Against all odds, there were two companies that turned out to fulfill both of these requirements: Jō and Joe's Garage. In fact, both companies use cups that are certified compostable (albeit in an industrial facility) by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). I would be interested to hear from anyone who has tried either of these brands or if you know of another brand that fulfills the above criteria.
In terms of snacks, the recommendation in a previous article was to focus on unpackaged snacks, such as fruits and vegetables, and snacks that come in non-plastic containers, such as glass bottles or paper packaging that has been certified sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council (should show the letters FSC near the bottom of the package). There is one other option, and that is to find snacks that come in packaging that is certified compostable by the BPI. Though many snack companies are working on this at the moment, I could find only one company that has successfully implemented such packaging. BAR-U-EAT makes natural energy bars that not only come in BPI-certified packaging, but they are also certified organic as well as gluten-free. They do come at a bit of a cost ($36 for 12 bars), but as I mentioned before, price almost always goes up as one tries to find more sustainable alternatives to cheaper plastic.
Objective
If you do use Keurig K-Cups for your morning coffee, consider trying one of the two brands mentioned above, and feel free to drop a comment here regarding your experience. Also, if you eat a lot of snacks packaged in plastic, especially granola or energy bars, consider trying BAR-U-EAT, or at least go to their website and check out their story.
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