The Coffee Pod Recycling Co. Applies to Shark Tank: Taking Coffee Pod Recycling to the National Stage

Henry Griffith
Jan 11
2 min read

At The Coffee Pod Recycling Co., our mission has always been simple: make coffee pod recycling actually possible for everyday consumers. This month, we took a major step toward scaling that mission—we officially submitted our application to Shark Tank.

This isn’t just a pitch opportunity. For us, it’s a moment to put a long-ignored sustainability problem under a national spotlight.

Why Shark Tank?

Every day, millions of Keurig and Nespresso pods are used in homes and offices across the world. While many manufacturers advertise recyclability, the practical steps required to achieve it are often overlooked: pods cannot be recycled if coffee grounds remain inside. That single step—removing the grounds—is where the system breaks down.

CPRC exists to fix that exact failure.

Applying to Shark Tank allows us to:

Present a clear, practical solution to a massive environmental problem
Show that student-led innovation can compete on a national stage
Seek strategic partners who understand manufacturing, licensing, and scale

What We Submitted

Our application focused on three core ideas:

The Problem: Coffee pods are everywhere—and so is the waste. Without easy ground removal, recyclability claims fall apart at the consumer level.
The Solution: CPRC’s patent-pending Coffee Pod Recyclers cleanly separate used pods, making it fast and intuitive for consumers to empty grounds and recycle the capsule properly.
The Vision: We don’t just want to sell devices. We want CPRC’s technology to become a standard companion to single-serve coffee—through direct sales, partnerships, or licensing with major manufacturers.

What This Means for CPRC

Submitting our Shark Tank application marks a turning point for the company. It forced us to sharpen our story, defend our value proposition, and articulate how CPRC scales beyond a student startup into a real sustainability platform.

Whether or not we’re invited into the Tank, the process itself validates something we’ve believed from day one: True sustainability begins with tools that work in everyday hands.