Keurig K-Cup recycling fine overview:
- Who: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fined Keurig Dr. Pepper $1.5 million and ordered it to not file inaccurate information in its annual reports to the agency.
- Why: The SEC says Keurig made misleading statements in the annual reports about the recyclability of its K-Cup coffee and tea pods.
- Where: Keurig K-Cup coffee and tea pods are purchased by consumers nationwide.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fined Keurig Dr. Pepper $1.5 million last week, accusing the company of misleadingly stating its K-Cup coffee and tea pods can be recycled effectively.
The agency also ordered Keurig to stop filing inaccurate information in its annual reports to put an end to its claims, which stemmed from statements made by Keurig reports filed with the SEC for fiscal years 2019 and 2020.
The SEC argued Keurig failed to disclose in the reports that two large recycling companies had indicated they “did not presently intend to accept pods for recycling.”
The agency says that rather than disclose this, Keurig simply stated in the reports that its testing with recycling facilities for the K-Cup pods “‘validate[d] that [pods] can be effectively recycled.’”
“By not including this additional information, Keurig’s statements about the conclusion to be drawn from the testing concerning recyclability of pods were incomplete and therefore inaccurate,” the agency said in an order.
Keurig began testing K-Cups in 2016 over recyclability concerns
The beverage company began performing tests of its pods at various recycling facilities around 2016 in order to address concerns from the recycling industry, reports Law360.
“While the testing demonstrated that pods typically could be successfully sorted from other materials at an early stage of the process within the recycling facilities, two large recycling companies provided negative feedback concerning the commercial feasibility of curbside recycling of pods at that time,” the SEC said.
Keurig stopped producing its K-Cup pods with polypropylene (PP) #7 — which is not typically recyclable — in 2020, at which time the company switched to using polypropylene (PP) #5, reports Law360.
The company reportedly agreed to settle the claims without admitting or denying wrongdoing.
Keurig previously agreed to pay $10 million to put an end to a class action lawsuit claiming the company misled consumers about its K-Cups being recyclable.
Do you agree with the SEC’s decision to fine Keurig? Let us know in the comments.
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