Why Are Coffee Cups so Problematic for Waste Disposal, Landfills, and Recycling
A morning coffee is the most important part of the morning routine of so many Canadians. In Canada alone, over fourteen billion cups of coffee are consumed every year. While most of this is at home, over a third is served up in single-use cups.
Just think about it. The coffee shop drive-thru on the way into work is the first stop for many. This creates a big problem, as the cups will surely end up adding strain to the waste disposal system. A coffee cup might seem small on its own, but they make up for it through sheer quantity. The cups present many unique challenges to even the best waste management systems.
A non-recyclable coffee cup is a big problem
A big part of the problem is that coffee cups are typically thrown out in one piece, despite being made of several different components. Coffee cup lids are almost always plastic, and they are often a type of plastic that can’t be easily recycled. This isn’t helped by the fact that few, if any, separate lids and put them into recycling when they can be. Cardboard is a common material for coffee cups today. It’s much easier to handle than the Styrofoam cups that are quickly falling out of style. Thankfully, cardboard is biodegradable, while Styrofoam takes essentially forever to break down.
Is cardboard the solution to the coffee cup problem?
These cardboard cups might seem like the perfect solution to the coffee cup problem, but they come with a catch. In order to not soak through as soon as they get wet, the cups are coated on the inside with a water-proof lining. This makes recycling very difficult, as the lining cannot be easily separated from the cardboard. This makes the cups unsuitable for most municipal recycling operations. It also presents a problem to landfills. The linings inhibit the naturally speedy break down of the cardboard, increasing the time that the cups and lids take up valuable landfill space.
The power of coffee chains to dictate to customers
The environmental concerns raised by coffee cups aren’t going unheeded. Many independent coffee shops are moving forward with plans on reducing the impact of their coffee cups. Most major coffee shops also now allow, and encourage, patrons to bring in their own reusable cups to be refilled. There have also been moves towards developing more environmentally friendly cups. One of the major fronts in this effort is the development of new cup linings that will be fully biodegradable. This will make coffee cups fully compostable, an end much more desirable than being sent to landfill.
Getting rid of plastic coffee cup lids
Plastic lids are the other significant factor causing problems for waste disposal. When a cup is thrown out and enters a landfill, the lid almost always goes with it. These plastic lids take much longer to breakdown than the cups themselves. One of the potential ways that companies are looking to handle this problem is the use of biodegradable, plant-based plastics for the lids. These lids break down on a time scale much closer to that of the cardboard cups. This would make the entire cup and lid assembly a candidate for composting, eliminating many tons of landfill waste.
