• by Steve Ellwanger , July 11, 2022

A federal judge in California has given preliminary approval to a $10 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit that alleged Keurig Green Mountain Inc. misled consumers about the recyclability of its single-serve K-Cup coffee pods.

The case has its roots in 2018, when a California resident alleged that Keurig had falsely labeled K-Cup pods as recyclable.

“Defendant advertises, markets and sells the Products as recyclable” but municipal recycling facilities are not properly equipped to handle the pods, which are small and “inevitably contaminated with foil and food waste,” the suit stated.

The plaintiff contended that “even to the extent facilities exist that are capable of segregating the Products…and then cleaning any contamination…the Products end up in landfills anyway as there is no market to reuse the Products or convert them into a material that can be reused.”

According to the July 8 preliminary ruling, Keurig has provided more than 1.6 million email addresses of people who purchased the company’s single-serve pods online. They will receive direct notice of a final settlement.

Other purchasers would be apprised of the settlement online, with advertising targeted to consumers ages 35+, a group that constitutes 74% of K-Cup users.

The ruling also stipulates that Keurig will modify its advertising and labeling to include the disclaimer “Check Locally—Not Recycled in Many Communities.”

In Connecticut, coffee pods are not accepted in the state’s mixed recycling program. As the town of Enfield notes on its website, “Coffee pods are OUT and considered contamination in Connecticut’s program. Please put these items in the trash.”

Marketing Daily reached out to Keurig for comment but had not heard back by deadline.