Big Woop Dept: Coca Cola Unveils Compost-Friendly Fountain Cup

A compostable cup is only an improvement if it gets composted. I hope they will scale up their production of compostable cups, but I hope even more that more people, institutions, and towns start composting, and move away from disposable cups entirely.

What's so wrong with this step in the right direction? So it's not worldwide immediatly, but hey, I don't see any other companies doing it? Why not give them credit.

Coke is not in the paper cup business. They are in the beverage business. The fact that they are doing this is helping reduce waste, notwithstanding your sophomoric article and big whoop commentary.

It's interesting how uppity Treehugger authors can be despite the fact that millions of computers must be powered up using up valuable electricity to consume your product which is information. Guess that's okay though.

"A compostable cup is only an improvement if it gets composted."

That is not entirely true. I do agree that it would be best for disposable cups to be eliminated entirely. However, the use of compostable disposables in general is a step in the right direction to get rid of a lot of waste that does not biodegrade, or biodegrades very slowly.

Instead of taking up room in a landfill for decades, cups and other disposables that are "compostable" are made of materials that break down much quicker (e.g., potato starch). In other words, they have a benefit even if they are not composted.

Sure. It certainly takes law-makers to push companies to do things. Otherwise, nothing would be done. In this vicious and competitive world, you can't count on altruism to be part of the corporate curriculum. It takes bribery and/or impending punishments to make anyone do anything in the world of money.

Typo: Last comment: University of Washington once more; NOT University of Seattle unfortunately. With the large amount of waste produced by university students, another step in the right direction, no matter how small or over-publicized is a good step.

What drives me crazy is to see all of these companies do the smallest amount of effort in the right direction. It isn't the best and the most effective solution, but it is one that can gain them recognition for that small effort. Yes, look at us, we use paper cups, (this is a general statement, and not necessarily directed at the object of this article), but is paper the best option? Paper cups have been used for years, and they have been lined with substances to make them waterproof, thereby making them landfill. Now we have other options besides trees. What are they lining their cups with now?
Why are we always patting companies and people on the back for the patches and fixes? How about real solutions?
Perhaps Coca-cola will offer their very own special re-usable cup and everyone who orders a Coca-cola product refill gets a standard discount at any place that offers Coca-cola.
What about bottle deposits and returns? Remember when the kids could go collecting bottles to get extra money?
We need a more renewable resource to use for disposables, and for everything else we need to demand quality, long lasting REUSABLE products.
This whole process of brainwashing us with disposables has also led to higher costs for everything. Sure that box of plastic baggies is only a couple of dollars. Now multiply that by how many times per year, 5 years, and so on, and add up the cost. What if you had just bought those Tupperware containers in the first place that come with a lifetime guarantee?
Recycling is great for the mess that is already here, but shouldn't be an excuse for companies to keep creating more mess. It takes much less energy to create an item the first time to last, than to make it to be used for a short time, and then to be recycled into another product. How much would we save by making it once to last for as long as possible, and then find something else to do with it? Where are the lifetime guarantees? One last rant...if it is made of plastic, it should be made to last for decades, or more if it will still be around that long.
The company that I run is based on finding real solutions that will make a more drastic change to reverse this mess we are in. It will take a drastic change in the way we live our day to day lives, and I don't think it requires weird, unappealing ideas, just simple ones.

Pretend you are a very large multi-national corporation. Now pretend you have 27 Sustainability initiatives underway. Some of them are big. Some of them are small.
All of them are being done for a mix of reasons. CEO-directive, fulfilling Sustainability programs, cost-reduction, and yes, even public relation opportunities.

Your competitors are doing the same thing.

Here’s the question: How would you communicate this to the world?

You may set some vapid 20xx goals. You may publish some in a GRI report. But likely, you’ll keep your mouth shut on the innovative stuff.

Today, Sustainability programming is a competitive advantage, like product development, pricing, distribution plans and marketing campaigns. It’s a race. A secret, secret race.

Now imagine that you customer is interested in Sustainability. Maybe some of them are hungry for it. Maybe some have it in their ‘peripherals’.

So, one of your initiatives gets completed. Say, a compostable cup launched at a major university years ahead of a legal mandate for such a cup. Do you announce it?

Of course.

Do you also reveal your other 26 initiatives? No. Why not?

Because (1) you are in competition with other similar companies who may be doing similar projects and first to market wins the prize; and (2) if you announce and fail to deliver it’s a bigger black eye than not bringing it up in the first place.

This is Transparency in Capitalism’s red-headed stepchild. How do we encourage competitive industries to be more transparent in the face of competition? Some industries and leaders are better than others at this. Transparency isn’t just about marketing; it’s about sharing technology to advance Sustainability, quickly.

So, while we marketers, bloggers, and eco-entrepreneurs are running around trying to change consumer culture, someone needs to start focusing on changing corporate cultures.

There isn't really a recylcling stream for paperware, I assume it all goes into landfills where it dessicates. (Landfills are designed to prevent composting.)

I think Coke should get its due, even if this is a mandate anyway. And, really, very few soda fountains use coke-logod cups. None of the fast food chains do.

People don't remember the role of Coke in US history. It arose when America was crippled with serious alcohol problems, which eventually led to prohibition. Coke was a satisfying alternative to beer, which, although I love it, is not an acceptable mid-day beverage in our automotive culture. Before soft drinks, your drink choices were fetid water or alcohol. Most people were zonked most of the time. Coke created a mass market for non-alcohol, and although I frown on prohibition, I also applaud alternatives.

Coca-Cola is like a guy going to a wedding who says he'll hold your present while you open the door and then gives the gift as his own while your back is turned.
It seems as if they made as little effort as possible when they were being forced to do something.
For this I say: You did your job. Grade: Acceptable.

The Coca Cola ecotainer was introduced at the University of Washington to help complete a compostable service ware line.

The cup is collected and picked up, along with food waste and other compostable service ware, and sent to a commercial composting facility less than 35 miles away from the university.

There is a lot of collaborative effort happening in our region of the country, as well as in other regions, with government(City of Seattle), institutes of higher learning(University of Washington), corporate campus food services(Microsoft), commercial composting facilities(Cedar Grove Composting), food service distributors(Food Services of America and Papercraft), the food packaging industry(International Paper) and food and beverage providers(Coca Cola), that are making the change away from landfill waste packaging to compostable packaging.

The introduction of the compostable Coca Cola ecotainer, helps to futher drive commercial composting, making it easier in the future for commercial restaurants as well as the residential community, to participate as stewards of the environment.

Ten years from now, global fast food restaurants will have complete compostable service ware. After finishing your food and beverage, the food and beverage you did not finish, along with the cup, the lid, the straw, the wrapper, the salad container, will be disposed of, not into a lone landfill waste container as you see now, but in a compost bin.

this is a good thing, whether it be for selfish gain or a good purpose, capitalists such as Coke think of both at the same time, and for them to start eco friendly packaging in mind, it is a good move, especiallythat it trickles down to Third World countries where environmental protection needs all the help it can from the private (albeit) commercial sector, who has the money and the power, and not so much from well meaning good and eco friendly (but cash-strapped) government (should i also mention in most cases, yes in most cases corrupt) organizations?Up points for Merchant's objective article, thumbs up also for the Real thing.