The Keurig self-serving coffee brewer was invented to give households different options when it came to decaf or regular. No one, not even the inventor, John Sylvan, expected such an issue with the disposal of the K cups.

While Keurig’s K cups are rough on the environment, it has proved to be helpful for many people.

“It makes making coffee a lot faster. I like a different coffee than my mom so it’s helpful,” sophomore Sarah Ball said.

In an interview with CNN, Sylvan admits that he regrets inventing the K cups. The individual K cups are not able to be recycled which has created quite an issue in many landfills.

“I’m a big advocate of not buying things that have a lot of trash involved,” Horticulture teacher Laura Widhalm said.

Originally invented for office use, the Keurig coffee machines are now in nearly one out of eight American households.

“Businesses are always searching for something. Instant gratification isn’t always great,” Widhalm said.

Without the ability to recycle the cups, the amount of them being thrown in the trash has reached a dangerous level. Each pound of coffee consumed sends 50 K cups to the landfills.

“We went to a landfill on a field trip. There were semis after semis of garbage,” Widhalm said.

Keurig is working on having recyclable K cups by 2020. Hopefully it won’t be too late to reverse the damage the Earth is already facing.

“I’ve cut down on the K cups and am aware of my effect on the environment,” Ball said.