10 More Inventors Who Hated Their Own Creations
6. John Sylvan - K-Cups
Remember the days when you had to brew an entire pot of coffee if you only wanted a single cup? Those days went the way of the dinosaur when John Sylvan had an innovative idea: single serve coffee pods! Sylvan's invention became the pioneering new technology used in nearly every office and home in the world... and he hates it.
Keurig Cups (K-Cups for short) were an amazing innovation for the coffee industry, but they present a major problem. Environmentally, they represent a nightmare scenario: for every cup of coffee, a plastic pod is thrown recklessly into the trash and those pods find their way into landfills and waterways.
Sylvan not only regrets creating K-Cups, he doesn't even use them. In an interview with the Atlantic, he said, "I don't have one. They're kind of expensive to use ... plus it's not like drip coffee is tough to make."
Expenses aside, Sylvan's biggest regret has to do with the plastic legacy his work leaves behind, which is why he now works as an environmentalist. Sylvan runs a company called ZonBak, which claims to manufacture the most cost-efficient solar panel in the world.