Why does it matter?

The plastic coating in the cups means that they are not compostable.  A study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials found that plastic films (polypropylene included) release microplastics. These are considered hazardous and present health consequences. Within just 15 minutes, the plastic lining begins to degrade. Just three hot beverages a day could mean that someone ingests a whopping 75,000 microplastic particles. 

Preetam Basu and Thanos Papadopoulos, professors at the Kent School of Business, reported in a 2022 report:  “The entire lifecycle of disposable cups, from raw material extraction to production and transportation, requires significant energy, contributing to environmental degradation, . . . “The slow decomposition of disposable cups, especially those with plastic linings, can lead to the release of microplastics into the environment,” and on the off chance that your disposable cup winds up in waste bound for incineration, that process “can release pollutants into the air”.

The good news is that you can bring your own!

What can you do:

Read this article: https://wasteadvantagemag.com/new-infographic-reveals-the-waste-mountain-of-coffee-cups-we-produce-per-year/

Advocate for eliminating single-use disposable coffee cups.

Use your own refillable cup!

Write to Starbucks and Peet’s and thank them for their efforts to encourage the use of reusable cups and encourage them to try out $1 off and see what happens! 

Did you know that recent statistics suggest that every year 50 billion disposable cups are used in the United States – and nearly all of those cups are lined with plastic and used with plastic lids. The environmental and health impacts are extraordinary – the making of the cups and lids, the disposable of the cups and lids, and the health impacts of the plastic. 

Yesterday I got my weekly mocha latte at Peet’s Coffee. I handed Luis, the barista, my reusable cup  and he told me I now get 25 cents off for bringing my own cup, up from 10 cents last week. The intention is to get customers to stop using single-use cups.   I asked him if he’s noticed more people bringing in reusable cups and he wasn’t sure.  We both thought a $1 deduction might do the trick. 

What is the most effective way to convince people to end or reduce their use of single-use coffee cups, plastic bags etc?  It does not seem to be effective when people know about the environmental impact, since after all most people know that there is too much plastic in the ocean.  It does not seem to be effective when people learn that only about eight percent of plastic actually gets recycled.  It may be a bit effective to know that those “paper” coffee cups are lined with plastic – part of the credit card’s worth of plastic we consume every week.  When I tell my friends that the disposable coffee cup they are drinking from is lined with plastic they are so surprised, and they seem a bit more motivated to use their reusable cups.  Will reducing the cost of a cup a coffee make the difference?  

Starbucks announced recently that it is allowing customers to bring in their single-use cups and even use them at some drive-throughs when ordering online!  You get ten cents off the cost.  Starbucks announced that it is aiming to stop using disposable cups by 2030.  Wow - that would be something to celebrate!

It may just take eliminating the single-use cups or making them completely compostable with no plastic in the cup or in the lid to end our addiction!