Bruce Power employees cut waste by switching to compostable coffee pods

Coffee drinkers at Bruce Power are reducing their environmental footprint with the new certified 100-per-cent compostable President’s Choice® single-serve coffee pods.

Many of the 4,200 workers at the Bruce Power site are members of employee-run coffee clubs. Their used single-serve coffee pods have been going to the facility’s on-site landfill.

The company is now providing an environmentally-positive alternative by making the new compostable single-serve coffee pods available to its employees. These pods use the innovative PurPod100™ compostable technology from Toronto-based Club Coffee that breaks down in the large-scale composting processes used for all other organic waste from the facility.

Worldwide, it is estimated that 100-billion non-compostable and non-recyclable coffee pods will make their way to landfills by 2020 and environmentally-conscious Bruce Power employees are ready to be part of the solution, said Francis Chua, Bruce Power’s department manager, environment and sustainability.

“Bruce Power’s environment and sustainability program is always looking for ways to help employees reduce their environmental footprint and divert waste from our on-site landfill,” said Chua. “We’ve seen the impact these non-recyclable coffee pods can have on landfills and, since we have so many single-use coffee machines on site, helping employees access a compostable coffee pod was a natural fit.”

An estimated 25,000 pods could be diverted from Bruce Power’s on-site landfill annually through this program.

The pilot program began in September when compostable pods were made available to employees free of charge to test the new coffees. Employees are now buying the coffee on-line from local supplier Crystal Vending.