2013 Edison Awards Gold Award for Consumer Packaged Goods, Beverage Preparation – Keurig Vue 2014 Top 10 Breakaway Brands (Landor Associates) 2014 Food and Beverage Innovators Award – Bolt Packs (National Restaurant Association) Most Recommended Single Serve Pod Coffee Maker 2014 (Women's Choice Award) 50 Best U.S. Manufacturers 2014 (IndustryWeek) Corporate affairs Environmental impact In the 2010s, beginning primarily with a 2010 article in The New York Times, Keurig has been publicly criticized by environmental advocates and journalists for the billions of non-recyclable and non-biodegradable K-Cups consumers purchase and dispose of every year, which end up in landfills. Some competing single-cup brands have single-serve pods that are recyclable, reusable, compostable, or biodegradable. The cup portion of the K-Cup is made of #7 plastic, and although according to the company it is BPA-free, safe, and meets or exceeds applicable FDA standards, it cannot be recycled in most places. Even in the few locations in Canada where #7 plastic is recycled, the small size of the pods means they can fall through sorting grates. In late 2005, Green Mountain and Keurig launched the My K-Cup reusable and refillable pod, which could be filled with any brand of coffee. The product was discontinued in August 2014 with the launch of the Keurig 2.0 brewing system, and the 2.0 did not accept the My K-Cup pods. Consumer backlash prompted the company to announce in May 2015 that it was bringing back the My K-Cup and making it compatible with the 2.0 brewers. In 2011, GMCR launched the Grounds to Grow On program, in which office customers purchase recovery bins for used K-Cups, which are shipped to Keurig's disposal partner, which composts the coffee grounds and sends the pods to be incinerated in a waste-to-energy power plant. Critics point out that incineration produces airborne pollutants. Regarding potential recyclability, GMCR's vice president of sustainability stated in 2013 that "The system has a lot of pretty demanding technical requirements in terms of being able to withstand certain amount of temperature and to have a certain kind of rigidity, and provide the right kinds of moisture barriers and oxygen barriers and the like. So it isn't the simplest challenge." In 2015, Keurig Green Mountain's chief sustainability officer stated that every new K-Cup spin-off product introduced since 2006 – including the Vue, Bolt, K-Carafe, and K-Mug pods – is recyclable if disassembled into paper, plastic, and metal components. James