The War On Single-Use Cups

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2018-01-16 09:34

Billions of disposable cups are thrown away every year around the world. It's estimated that very few of them, less than 0.25 percent, ever end-up being recycled and that the majority will eventually find their way to a landfill somewhere.

Some of the most popular items frequently found at the landfill are items like plastic bags, plastic straws, single-use cups, bottle caps, and cigarette butts.

The concern for garbage has now fueled a latte levy debate, with the UK government recently introducing a proposal to put forth a 25p per cup charge as a solution to the problem.

They have a goal that all takeaway cups should be recyclable by 2023 and if that goal isn't met then they have proposed an outright ban on the product. They will also be looking to have entrepreneurs in the coffee market pay more for the cost of disposing cups.

Starbucks and Mcdonald's have already responded to the pressure. Starbucks said it will be trialing an extra 5p charge on its single-use cups for the next few months in at least 20 different cafes in London.

And it's not just in the UK. McDonald's has also announced its goal to eliminate foam and plastic cups from their cups in the US as well, with eventually all their packaging being made from recycled materials by 2020 for every location of theirs.

Many retailers have sought to introduce a ban or an extra fee on plastic bags or single-use cups. But some say that the levy isn't enough to address the problem and that businesses themselves should do more to shoulder the cost.

Is the extra 5p or 25p really going to cover all the costs of recycling the cups?

Not everyone is concerned about recycling of course or believes in the merits of the act.

You'll find folks on either side of the aisle when it comes to the recycling discussion and ongoing debate about the effectiveness thereof. Critics have suggested that recycling efforts produce even more waste and pollution in the process of trying to be clean, that we're not saving any resources by doing it, and they have frequently negated the claim that we're running out of landfill space.

Despite the critique, proponents of recycling still suggest that it takes less energy to produce products from recycled materials than it does from virgin materials.

Though, recycling critics maintain that the best (most cost-effective) option is still to bury the garbage under the ground. Some even suggest that the act of recycling might be the biggest waste of natural and human resources that the people have been concerning themselves with.

No doubt there are many who might agree that there is a case for addressing the waste that we produce, but how we go about tackling it is where we will always run into disagreement. We can use force, via taxes and bans, or we can try and come up with voluntary solutions.

To try and get more value out of recycling, a growing number of waste sites have been transforming themselves over the years into energy facilities. Right now there are over 80 different waste-to-energy facilities around the U.S, about 400 of them in Europe, and hundreds more in places like Japan and China. In the US, these sites are producing enough energy to help power over 2 million homes every year.

There are a variety of businesses that are dedicated to producing biodegradable packaging items.

And recyclable single-use cups are already being trialed in numerous places. One company, known as Scyphus, has been working on options for a 100 percent biodegradable cup and container. Right now they are the leader in manufactured paper cups for the UK and by the end of next year they hope to have the PE coated paper cup completely phased out.

In some areas, various businesses have launched projects that seek to have customers put a deposit down to use their reusable cup, which can later be returned to any participating coffee shop location. This is a creative compliment to the popular discount that some stores offer for customers to bring in their own cup.

To try and cut back on the single-use beverage cups, water refilling stations have been utilized in places like Germany as well. The hope with these is that people will opt for refilling at one of the stations rather than looking to buy another cup, that has a life cycle of about 15-20 minutes.

A growing number of companies are looking to opt for more sustainable choices. And there have been prominent beverage and food companies that have vowed to phase out plastic cups and straws, looking for greener options. We've even seen edible straw options come to market that consumers can eat after they're finished drinking, along with the idea for edible water bottles. A variety of edible food packaging is available on the market today.

Entrepreneurs have gotten creative about coming up with various ways to try and tackle what many see as a big problem.

There might be many people who want to work toward cutting back unnecessary waste and trying to minimize pollution, but perhaps the government isn't the best agent to be tasked with this responsibility.

Pics:
news.starbucks.com
pixabay
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pixabay
newhope.com

Sources:
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