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The Environmental Effects of Your Take-Away Coffee Cup

Millions of people use disposable cups each day thanks to our busy lives, coffee addiction and fresh juice trend. Even if we only use disposable paper cups occasionally - a coffee here and a cup of juice there really builds up over time and contributes to water wastage, pollution and crowded landfills.

Most people are aware that foam or polystyrene take-away cups are terrible for the environment, cannot be recycled and take about 1 million years to decompose (no that’s not an exaggeration). However, we should not be proud of ourselves for choosing single-use paper cups because contrary to popular belief these cups are not a greener option. 

The truth about paper take-away cups is that despite being made from a recyclable and biodegradable material, they are lined with a plastic called polyethylene to make them durable and prevent leaking. This lining is made from fossil fuels and makes the cups non-recyclable in the majority of facilities because they require specialized recycling processes that aren’t often available so they end up in landfills until they decompose which takes about 20 years. The plastic lining in these cups can also leach chemicals into your beverage and the environment and waterways when they eventually break down.

Millions of trees are cut down each year to keep up with the demand for paper to-go cups, and they need to be transported, cut into chips, washed and then mixed with water. As you can imagine this requires many tons of water and contributes huge amounts of green house gas emissions.

Most coffee shops go a step further and get their disposable paper cups custom-printed which require more chemicals that will eventually leach into the environment when they break down wherever they end up, whether in landfills or waterways. In addition to paper take-away cups it’s also hard to avoid paper insulation sleeves that offer protection from hot beverages as well as plastic coffee-stirrers, straws and lids which simply offer convenience. Sadly even if these are recyclable we can’t be sure that people will recycle them or rather opt for the easier route and throw them in the garage.

There are some companies which may offer completely biodegradable paper cups and linings but the majority of coffee or juice shops do not. The best way to avoid single-use disposable cups is to always carry reusable cups, mugs and/or bottles around with you when you leave the house or keep them in your car. In addition to this make sure you always turn down single-use coffee stirrers, lids, straws and paper sleeve insulators.

Sources   

http://www.everydayearthiness.com/whats-in-a-cup/
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/your-paper-coffee-cup-is-an-eco-nightmare.html