I'm so happy to see strides being made in this area, but I'm afraid it's really just a band-aid. 14.4 billion paper hot cups? Don't people have their own mugs or travel cups?

What if coffee shops charged a little more for a beverage in a disposable cup or reduced the price for customers with their own cups? There would be a lot less R&D money wasted, and the number of cups disposed could easily drop by more than half.

I have a question about all the compostable cups, utensils, "plastic" bags... how do they compost in the typical landfill? I have been told that almost no "composting" goes on there due to the lack of oxygen and no turning of the material.

Seventh Generation told me they are not making a biodegradable garbage bag specifically because of this.

I am all for reducing the amount of hydrocarbons consumed by utilising new/greener materials, but I worry that some serious marketing spin is deluding the public into thinking their garbage will turn into potting soil in the landfill.

Heidi, agree that reusable cups should be a first option. (bearing in mind that it actually takes less energy to make a paper cup in the first instance, compared to an ceramic or aluminium alternative. Then there is the issue of the water, energy for heating the water, and the detergent used the clean the reusable cup throughout its life). But still, in the long term the reusable does win out.

Chingy, it is true that even without a thin plastic or biopolymer film most biodegradable items will not decompose in modern landfills. Decomposition requires soils rich with micro-organisms. Not something found in most landfills. As noted here before, researchers digging up landfills in the US have been able to read newspapers 25 years old, and I recall there was even fruit or vegetables that had not decayed. Modern landfills are lined and capped to prevent contamination of groundwater, which is wise. But this protection does not allow for items to readily biodegrade. One of the reasons why Green Mountain do not claim the cup to be biodegradable, rather 'compostable'. Meaning it will only break down in the right environment - a well tended domestic, or professionally managed compost heap. A 'biodegradable garbage bag' is a contradiction in terms, for these reasons.

Nearly all the coffee venues in my area ( ecologically unenlightened southern NJ) allow the use of your own reusable cup or thermos. Even the convenience stores - although you have to use thermos cups purchased there. Most of the other place just ask the size of your container and charge accoringly.

I like ceramic cups/mugs for coffee. It has nothing to do with ecology. I just think coffee looks and taste better in ceramic mugs.

Heidi said, "What if coffee shops charged a little more for a beverage in a disposable cup or reduced the price for customers with their own cups?"

That's a simple low-tech solution that I could get behind. It's very much like how in Europe you have to pay for each plactic grocery bag. It give the consumer a small but direct incentive to reduce waste.

Even Starbucks will take a dime off if you bring your own cup, and more progressive coffee shops may go up to a quarter. We pay a dollar deposit on glass milk bottles, and until deposits or 'discouragement fees' cost that much, nothing will happen.

TH recently had a post about the Berlin Love Parade, which mentioned bars charging one euro on their beverage containers. That would be a happy day.

One advantage of having a compostable cup available at a coffee house might be that the trash bins sitting open all day might actually trap some air and heat required to compost?

The hot grounds poured on to the cups may start some reaction. I'm not a composting expert at all, but it sounds mildly reasonable to see the kick start from the hot grounds.

Perhaps if the employees were then instructed to cut open all bags as they are thrown into the dumpster, more heat and culture would happen?

A place like Starbucks good subsidize reuse more depply. Afterall, they sell travel mugs right there in the store. It would be good PR for them and it might generate more sales. I know that a 50 cent discount would ake me more likely to bring my mug with me, particularly if it was a daily purchase.
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Composting takes a lot longer than the day the cup spends in the trash bin. It can take months for paper to break down. As an experiment, take a used paper cup, write the date on it, fill it with dirt, water until thoroughly moist, and place in a sunny window. If the dirt came from any reasonbly verdant source you'll get weeds popping up in a week or so. Now see how long it takes to crumble to nothing. Congratulations, you just composted one paper cup!

The compostability of the cup makes it possible to include it in food scrap or green waste collection programs. These materials from households, restaurants and landscaping companies are brought to a central site where they are composted into fertilizer that is sold or given away.

In Alameda County and San Francisco, California (to name two locales) compostable paper can go into the green waste or food scrap bin. The S.F. Chronicle had a story about this a few years ago.

I sell compostable foodservice packaging.
The organizations that switch from petrol based packaging to bio-based packaging are part of a growing number of groups that realize our recycling system for plastic does not work. we recycle less then 1% of the plastic we use in the usa.
By establishing a single compostable waste stream from large users of disposable packaging you start the process of completing the sustainability circle. Many of the products we sell are made from agricultural waste material. Local use of agricultural waste to establish a single compostable waste stream is lthe goal. We need to create a market for these types of products. We are creating that market with products from asia knowing that the utlimate answer is local.

I agree with the incentive to use reusable mugs such as thermoses. Starbucks does give a ten cent discount for their use, but I it is not advertised. I think that if the company reallt wanted to be seen in a more positive light, they might push that incentive a little further in stores. Perhaps if you buy a thermos to begin with you get a free coffee, or every ten times you bring one in, you would get something. Beause in reality the company itself would be saving quite a bit of money by purchasing fewer paper cups, and disposing less. It's true that it will be a ahard battle to get rid of paper cups, even compostable ones, but overall using a thermos is the way to go. Or even better, ceramic cups.

A little off topic here-- I am looking for ceramic Treehugger mugs. I found it once on this site last year. Any one?
Also your all invited to "The Tree Huggers Ball" in So CA
May 19th - 3rd annual green expo and ball-live music,food, dancing-For just $35 where are you ever going to find a deal like that while helping the environment?
I need the cups to raise funds at the ball
for more info go to www.canyonland.org or www.orangehills.org
Thanks, Love
Karl

Here's a way to get some free coffee cups. I used to work at Starbucks and every holiday season they'd bring out red cups. These cups have to be used up or thrown out after the holiday season. So around that time just go to a Starbucks and ask if they need someone to take the cups off their hands and you could use them for your own purposes (like a 10 cent discount) or donate them to charities as we did at our store.

the ecotainer cups , while claiming to be a sensible alternative, are not living up to the hype....i have tried these cups in all of my coffee shops, and I'm sad to say they cannot hold there own...serious leakage in the 16 and 20oz cups...we were forced to return to using the petrochemical ones.

this is great. i hope that more major coffee companies purchase this product for their company. think GREEN people

this is great. i hope that more major coffee companies purchase this product for their company. think GREEN people