Zack Burchman Travis Gang Dana Geer Ryan Neary Matt Seekins Faculty Advisor: Mike Rosen GMCR Contacts: Paul Comey Wade Hodge Jason King

 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is unable to recycle waste K-Cups that result from in-process quality testing and misprocessing.

 Currently no process is utilized to separate the K-Cup components into recyclable waste streams  There are many discarded cups ~5% of the cups don’t meet quality requirements ~3% are used for quality control testing About 80,000 cups discarded daily  Currently, all rejects are sent to a landfill  K-Cup production will continually grow due to user demand

 Effectively dismantle K-Cups and sort the cup, grounds, filter, and foil seal into individual waste streams  Separated components must be in recyclable condition  Total environmental waste must be significantly less than discarding cups in landfill  The design will be scalable enabling it to handle an 80,000 cup load daily  The device should be capable of handling partially assembled and damaged K-Cups that result from misprocessing  Compatible with GMCR restraints for safety, noise reduction, cost, etc.

 Potential techniques for separation of materials Heat Shred into tiny pieces Cut key welding points Chemical agents to relieve bond Brute force (simply pull apart) Grinding down weld  Techniques for orienting cups Physical geometry Center of gravity Vibrating techniques

 Benefits Cup orientation might not matter Pieces can just curl away from each other leading to easy separation No waste  Pitfalls Heat required might melt components Because parts are welded, we can’t be sure it will work Grounds can catch fire

 Benefits Very simple Can throw all cups into a bin and just push a button  Pitfalls After shredding, still need a process to efficiently separate various waste streams

 Benefits Easy process with die All components can be detached in one swoop No residue on parts  Pitfalls Waste streams must still be separated after cutting Welds must be discarded as waste

 Benefits No remaining residue No wear on machines  Pitfalls Need thorough understanding of material properties Emissions Cost of chemicals

 Benefits Separates waste streams during disassembly  Pitfalls Slow Room for error Requires cups to be oriented and handled throughout process

 Benefits Minimal waste Simple process Parts can be separated during disassembly  Pitfalls Machine wear Aluminum dust as a hazard? May be slower than other processes