Green Day tackle coffee-related waste with new pods, packaging

A partnership between Oakland Coffee Works and San Francisco Bay Coffee Company is bringing to market coffee’s fourth wave: organic coffee in packaging made from fully compostable materials – including bags and single serving pods – that sets a new standard for sustainable packaging in the coffee industry, according to the company.

Oakland Coffee Works, owned by Green Day’s Mike Dirnt and Billie Joe Armstrong, is introducing the first coffee packaging made of certified compostable materials this week to four Bay Area Costco stores, on Costco.com and on Amazon.com.

“First there was diner coffee, then there was second wave coffee, like Starbucks, and then came the third wave with artisanal coffee – but this is the next step: organic, truly high-quality coffee that fairly supports the farmers who grow it and that comes in packaging made from fully compostable materials,” said Mike Dirnt, bassist for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Green Day.

The goal for both companies is to move the needle on coffee-related waste – which is a challenging issue as some 18,000 single serve coffee pods are thrown away every minute; while John Sylvan, the inventor of the Keurig machine, “regrets ever inventing it” because of its environmental impact.

“We wanted to be a company that solved the waste problem for the coffee industry so we have invested more than five years of work and more than $2 million so far towards developing fully compostable pods and bags. Our goal is to influence the rest of the industry to adopt it, too,” said John Rogers, from San Francisco Bay Coffee Company.