K-cups are absolutely awful for the environment – I'd argue much much worse than Airpods/consumer electronics. Keurig's entire business is built off of throwing plastic away. They even take measures [1] to make sure you can't re-use their pods. And it's not like throwing plastic away is a "necessary evil" of making coffee - no other mainstream method (drip, aeropress, pourover, moka pot, french press) produces waste that isn't compostable.

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2014/3/3/5465578/keurig-locking-dow...