Calling all environmentally-conscious fellows in the green room! Most of us like our morning coffee or tea, right? Odds are, when you pick it up, it comes in one of those disposable little cups. As eco-minded folks, we should be aware right off the bat that this isn't a good thing, but I wasn't aware until recently just how bad it is until reading a recent article published over at BBC News. The article's angle focuses on the UK, of course, but its findings easily apply to other countries, particularly given some of these coffee pushers have an international presence. From the article (you can read the entire thing here):
Is this something you've thought about on your quest to be more mindful of the waste you generate? I rarely purchase coffee/tea drinks in these sorts of containers, but I'd always thought (wrongly) like most that paper = recyclable with these things. I'm thinking that I may add a plastic cup to my stash of take out containers I keep in my car all the time. What about you?
"The coffee cup crisis is somehow even more glaring - a wanton waste going on right under our noses.
Most consumers wrongly assume that paper cups are a "green" choice.
It's an assumption coffee companies are happy not to challenge. They know differently, but they're keeping that to themselves. They're not going to tell conscientious consumers that putting a used coffee cup in a recycling bin is pointless. But it is.
The takeout cups that are the stock-in-trade of High Street coffee giants such as Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Costa are currently almost impossible to recycle.
To make these cups waterproof, the card is fused with polyethylene, a material that cannot be separated out again in a standard recycling mill.
What's more, the cups are not even made from recycled material in the first place - the way they are designed means one thin seam of card inside the cup comes into contact with the hot drink, so they have to be made from virgin paper pulp."
Most consumers wrongly assume that paper cups are a "green" choice.
It's an assumption coffee companies are happy not to challenge. They know differently, but they're keeping that to themselves. They're not going to tell conscientious consumers that putting a used coffee cup in a recycling bin is pointless. But it is.
The takeout cups that are the stock-in-trade of High Street coffee giants such as Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Costa are currently almost impossible to recycle.
To make these cups waterproof, the card is fused with polyethylene, a material that cannot be separated out again in a standard recycling mill.
What's more, the cups are not even made from recycled material in the first place - the way they are designed means one thin seam of card inside the cup comes into contact with the hot drink, so they have to be made from virgin paper pulp."
Is this something you've thought about on your quest to be more mindful of the waste you generate? I rarely purchase coffee/tea drinks in these sorts of containers, but I'd always thought (wrongly) like most that paper = recyclable with these things. I'm thinking that I may add a plastic cup to my stash of take out containers I keep in my car all the time. What about you?
