Even though all the components of the pods can be recycled only a handful of them make sense economically. For most of the pod components, it is far cheaper to buy new raw materials than it is to recycle and reuse the existing pods. If you add the cost of breaking down each K-Cups to the financial loss of recycling the material it becomes clear that recycling every K-Cups used would cost a fortune.
The group debated whether the recycling of K-Cups is realistic and feasible. After coming to a consensus, it was agreed that K-Cups can be recycled when the components are separated, but it is not realistic. Consumers are not taking the time to manually take apart the pods, especially when the whole reason they use the product is to support their on-the-go lifestyle. but the significant cost of recycling a pod combined with the immense quantity of pods being used makes recycling K-Cups entirely unfeasible.