Reducing landfill waste one coffee pod at a time

Eugene Ace (BBA ’06)
Eugene Ace (BBA ’06)

Are single serve coffee pods a new eco-villain? If you ask Schulich BBA alumnus Eugene Ace, that would be a definite yes.

That’s why after years with a large national company selling coffee products; he developed GoJava with his co-founder Evan Birmann. GoJava is a Toronto-based coffee supply company that sells coffee pods online, delivers them to your home or business and recycles your used cups. The recycling fare is covered in the cost so consumers of the single serve coffee can drink guilt-free.

“There was a lot of negative press around single serve coffee pods,” Ace said. “We knew there were some niche recycling solutions available. So we subsidized the process and absorbed the cost to provide a sustainable solution to our customers.”

According to Ace, the two main hurdles why people do not recycle are cost and convenience. In their business model they remove those excuses out of the equation.

“There are over 10 billion coffee pods produced each year and they all make their way to landfills. We want to create a solution to the problem across North America,” Ace said.

GoJava has been in business for just over a year and collected around two tons of coffee waste to be recycled. And that number continues to double every few months.

To learn more about the company or set up your coffee service visit their website GoJava.ca or watch them on season 11 of Dragons Den starting Oct. 2016.