Keurig - Convenient Coffee or Landfill Disaster?

For months now, I've been mesmorized every time I see a Keurig unit; most especially on one of the various home shopping channels. I watch in awe as they conveniently make cup after single cup. So simple. So clean. So fast. It'll even make my hot chocolate and teas (since personally, I hate the taste of coffee).

I debated back and forth with myself about getting one for my husband. Coffee is good for him, after all. But the more I watched, the more I could not ignore those little K-cups. Those plastic cups. One cup of coffee = one K-cup in the trash. Is this sustainable?

I went online to do a little research; hoping that I would find the cups were made of some eco-friendly materials.. or at the very least.. they were recycleable.

Guess what? They're not.

You can read all about it on the company's own website: http://www.keurig.com/social-responsibility

Here's the good news. They've at least made the components BPA free.. which was another thing I was wondering about. The company uses biodeisel and solar power, in part. So, kudos. All things I would expect from a company within the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters brand.

But those... cups. I can't get past them. The company states they are trying hard to find a solution. I hope that's true. Because this 'coffee by the cup' trend doesn't seem to be going anywhere. There are several other brands, with their own line-ups of plastic sealed coffees. And to my knowledge, none are recycleable or biodegradeable. In other words, they're piling up in landfills.. and will be there for thousands of years. I just don't feel like that's worth a faster, easier cup of coffee.

On one final note, for you guys that are desperate for the Keurig, there is one saving grace. They do offer a cup, "My K-Cup," that you reuse over and over. You fill it with your favorite coffee and just keep using it. No doubt that will help a lot.. if you're okay with losing a little convenience, and a lot of the novelty that comes with having so many options to choose from.

For me, I guess I'm going to wait til there is a solution to this K-Cup problem. What say you?