Keurig Canada will have to pay a penalty of $ 3 million and pay $ 800,000 to environmental organizations for having misled part of the country about the possibility of recycling its famous K-Cup pods, coffee served in disposable pods.
The US coffee company has come to an agreement with Canada’s Competition Bureau, which investigated the “false or deceptive” practices.
“The Bureau concluded that outside of the provinces of British Columbia and Quebec, K-Cup pods are not widely accepted by municipal recycling programs at this time,” the government agency said in a statement Thursday.
Keurig Canada has also misled consumers in some municipalities by providing an incomplete process for the capsule washing steps.
“Keurig Canada’s guidance gives the impression that consumers can prepare capsules for recycling by removing the seal and emptying the coffee grounds; however some local recycling programs require additional steps to recycle the capsules, ”detailed the Bureau.
In addition to the $ 3.8 million it must pay, the company will have to reimburse $ 85,000 for legal costs incurred in this case by the Bureau.
Keurig Canada will also need to change the indications and packaging of its K-Cup pods and post fixes on social media and in national and local media.
Keurig pioneered coffee machine technology that operated with small pods.
“It is illegal practice in Canada to portray products or services as having more environmental benefits than they actually have. False or misleading claims by companies to promote more ‘green’ products hurt consumers, who are unable to make informed purchasing decisions, and hurt competition and the businesses that offer products that really have a lower environmental impact, ”said Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell.