Single use/disposable paper cups: An evil to the environment.by Arushi Madan | 06-10-2017 03:56 |
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  Billions of single-use cups are thrown into landfill sites every year and, according to the WWF, to produce a single latte requires 200 litres of water, including the materials and manufacture of the paper cup and cardboard sleeve. In the UK there are 2.5 billion paper coffee cups used every year. Most of these cups don't get recycled. The paper for the cups comes from 80 year old trees. So it takes 80 years to grow the tree which is used for single use coffee cup. The Environmental Effect Of Paper Coffee Cups Our love for coffee has a bigger price tag than meets the eye. The paper cups that are used when we take away coffee are slowly building up and polluting the environment. Let not the word 'paper' (cup) fool you that it's not as harmful as its plastic counterpart. To some extent, most paper coffee cups are coated with a petroleum based plastic resin which makes them more durable and prevents coffee from leaking. To add on to the environmental effects of paper coffee cups, the ink that is used to produce custom coffee cups does not bode well for our environment either. Here are more of the environmental effects caused by paper coffee cups which the environmentalists term, the 'paper cup problem' When selecting your coffee ensure that the café is using biodegradable coffee cups that are lined with a plant based material not a petroleum based plastic. Trees This is probably the area where the 'paper cup problem' is affected most extensively. In 2007, it is estimated that 1.3 tonnes of paper cups were manufactured. In the US alone, 58 billion paper cups are used every year. With the loss of tress, the environment suffers from carbon absorption incapacity. As we all know, tress greatly aid in the absorption of carbon dioxide that is a chief pollutant to our environment. The problem is exacerbated with reduced production of oxygen with the cutting down of tress. All these contribute to a degraded ecosystem as a result of meeting global consumer demands. Chemicals emitted into the environment The production and shipment of paper coffee cups play a major role in the pollution of the environment by CO2 and other gases. A study on the environmental effect of paper cups showed that a single cup production and transportation leads to an emission of about 0.11 kilograms of CO2. Given that trees help in the absorption of CO2 and are unfortunately depleted, this becomes a double tragedy. It is also argued that paper cups have the potential to emit methane when they are decomposing. The Paper Industry Association Council estimated that around 63% of paper generated was recycled including newspapers which have the highest recovery rate. Sad to report, the recovery rate for paper cups is very negligible. Most are discarded rather than recycled and majority end up in landfills. Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas, more lethal than C02 because it has 21 times the heat-trapping component as compared to carbon dioxide. The need for custom-printed coffee cups leads to more chemical leaked into our environment when these are thrown away and dumped in landfills. Energy There is a great deal of energy used in the production and transportation of paper coffee cups. Think of it this way trees harvested to make paper coffee cups are transported to factories, the paper rolls are then transported to converters, the finished products of paper coffee cups are transported to wholesalers who will then transport them to retailers. In the transportation cycle one thing stands out – the emission of greenhouse gases that adversely pollute our environment. Why aren't these cups being recycled? This staggering 2.5 billion paper cups are thrown away in the UK annually, leading to around 25,000 tonnes of landfill and very few being recycled. The problem stems from the makeup of the standard takeaway coffee cup, which, although appearing to be made from paper, actually has a laminated plastic layer, meaning it cannot be recycled in the same manner as other paper and cardboard. This layer is due to EU regulations, which state that cups made entirely from paper and cardboard are not allowed under health and safety concerns. The plastic forms a barrier, retaining the structural integrity of the cardboard while keeping drinks warm. However, as it is attached tightly to the cardboard, it is only separable by specialist machinery that most waste processing plants simply don't have. In addition, the paper is treated with waterproofing chemicals that make them difficult to recycle and very few cups ever make it to these specialist recycling plants. What Can be Done to Reduce Disposable Coffee Cup Waste & Increase Recycling?
Governments could do more to reduce the number of disposable coffee cups used each year and encourage better recycling options. Certainly, in the case of plastic bags, taxes in the UK have made a big difference. The plastic bag tax, first introduced in Ireland in 2002 and, then, in the UK have changed the way we shop. As per figures issued by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), there has been a sharp drop in the number of single-use plastic bags. Could the same type of tax work when applied to plastic bottles and coffee cups? Unfortunately, the answer to that is probably not. While bags can be easily reused on the next shopping trip, taking bottles and cups back to be refilled at the store is a bit more complex. So tax may not be the ideal solution, unless, of course, a standardised, reusable cup was introduced (and accepted) by coffee shops. Another option might be to ban coated cups in favour of ones that are completely recyclable however, these tend to be more expensive and would result in extra costs for coffee shops and consequently, their customers. The first fully recyclable cups are already being used in UK Starbucks stores. These Frugalpa cups still have a thin layer of plastic, but since it's lightly glued, it's much easier to separate at recycling plants. It was a campaign by celebrity chef and sustainable environmentalist, Hugh Fearnley Whittingshall that led to trial happening at all, emphasising the importance of educational awareness when it comes to issues such as these. Several big chains have now signed up to make greater efforts when it comes to recycling drinks cups.
Education is key There are numerous resources out there that help kids understand recycling and how the environment should be cared for and preserved. Schools need to play their role too and put incorporate issues of sustainability and the environment into the curriculum. If children can learn to take simple actions now to protect the environment, by abandoning heavily packaged fast food and insisting on using their own cups for takeaway drinks, avoiding bottled water, volunteering for environmentally projects at school and in their neighbourhoods, then the companies responsible for unsustainable packaging will act too. But it's also the job of government to do more to force coffee companies to act more ethically and provide the impetus to reduce the amount of packaging we use and enforce recycling wherever possible. Schemes and efforts in the direction of tackling disposable cup pollution 'Simply Cups' Launches New Products Made from Recycled Paper & Plastic Composite SIMPLY CUPS, a partnership formed between Closed Loop Environmental Services and Simply Waste Solutions, had been working to help address the burgeoning issue of how to recycle the 2.5 billion paper cups used in the UK each year. It has launched a number of initiatives including an extended collection service and a range of functional products created a paper and plastic composite made from recycled cups. At its recently held third Annual Meeting Simply Cups, the UK's ONLY active disposable cup recycling scheme, has launched a number of initiatives including an extended collection service and a range of functional products created from the post-consumer materials that the scheme is collecting. The organisation said that the key to the development of its range of new promotional, office and point of sale products is the creation of a new durable polymer produced using both the paper and plastic content of paper cups. Trials were said to have shown that the composite is much stronger than conventional plastics and can be readily moulded into products at high speeds. Teamwork It's easy to forget that nothing is truly recycled until it?s been physically reused. A solution like this that opens up wider product possibilities will create a far bigger demand for the recycled cups and close an economic as well as a recycling loop. Simply Cups also announced a new extended cup recycling service, which it said means that, along with paper cups, the scheme will now be collecting and recycling Polypropylene (PP), High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) and PET Cups. To reflect this change, a number of new cup manufacturers have now also joined the scheme and include Coveris, Nupik Flo and RPC Tedeco-Gizeh.
Paper Cup Recycling Scheme Kicked off with High Profile Members at Arsenals Emirates Stadium The official launch event of a London wide paper cup recycling scheme, held in 2014 at Arsenal Football Clubs Emirates Stadium, saw coffee shop chain, Costa, become the latest member. Once out of the starting blocks the scheme began to attract a number of high profile founding members, including national retailer John Lewis Partnership's catering division and facilities management companies, Baxter Storey and ISS Facility Services. Cup manufacturers Huhtamaki and Solo Cup Europe also signed up, as did a number of prominent industry associations and environmental charities including WRAP, the Automated Vending Association and Keep Britain Tidy. The latest member, Costa, has concession outlets located at corporate offices, universities and transport hubs. Obviously Costa uses a lot of paper cups, and with this scheme it is looking to ensure that its customers can utilise the SIMPLY CUPS solution to recycle their cups. But its not just in recycling used cups that Costa sees an opportunity to boost the environmental credentials of its paper cups, its also looking at ways in which it can help its customers use less. Costa, which doles out 100m cups in the UK each year, is working on a "next generation" single-use cup with increased recycled content and FSC-certified pulp paper. It also points out its paper cups can be recycled (the process was tried out at a paper mill in Kent) but that recyclers "do not value the paper cup". Valuing cups is a point Starbucks has also been working on. In 2006 it began using 10% recycled post-consumer waste in its cups – fairly revolutionary in recycling terms. The goal is to make 100% of cups reusable or recyclable. Industry-wide group promoting paper cup post-use recycling 'Benders', a founding member of the industry-wide Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group, promoting paper cup post-use recycling, has been making the right environmental choices across its entire product range and assures of its 100% sustainable practices. It is a zero waste to landfill paper cup company 99% of its production waste is recycled, and the balance is waste-derived fuel.
As a key member of an industry-wide group promoting paper cup post-use recycling, Benders explores all options on the sustainability and recycling spectrum, and provide clear guidance on the pros and cons of each option to its customers.
Disposable coffee cups have started to be informally banned in few offices. Employees are urged to drink from mugs (which they bring in themselves). To arrive with a disposable cup from a coffee outlet is to invite opprobrium in such offices.
Green Your Cup – The World's First Recyclable Coffee Cup hit UK high streets One can recycle 'Green Your Cup' with your paper and cardboard and it comes back as a newspaper several times, extending the life of such high quality paper well beyond the half an hour it takes to drink a coffee. Conventional paper cups are made from paper laminated with plastic, making them difficult to recycle. Under EU health and safety regulations, coffee cups cannot be made from 100% paper or cardboard alone. A thin layer of plastic is bonded on to the cup to keep the drink warm and stop the paper from getting soggy. But it is attached so tightly that those cups need special facilities to separate the linings, with almost all recycling plants rejecting the cups and sending them straight to landfill.
Parliamentary Inquiry into Waste Coffee Cups & Plastic Bottles in UK The UK Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee launched an inquiry into the damage being caused by disposable drinks packaging – particularly the impact of plastic bottles and coffee cups. The inquiry will look at what actions are being undertaken by industry and Government to reduce waste generated by coffee cups and plastic bottles, and investigate possible solutions. According to the committee plastic bottles and coffee cups are particularly problematic with only around half of the 35 million plastic bottles sold in Britain every day being collected for recycling. Some 7 million cardboard coffee cups were also said to be thrown away daily with just 1 in 400 are being recycled. The Committee explained that to make coffee cups waterproof the card must be fused with polyethylene, a material that cannot be separated out again in standard UK recycling mills. This coating makes both composting and recycling of paper cups uncommon. There are only two sites in the UK that have the capacity to separate the plastic film from the paper, allowing recovery and recycling into new paper products. Successive Governments have put regulations in place to reduce waste and to increase recycling. Similarly, the industry has been taking voluntary action to try to increase their recycling rates and exploring recyclable alternatives to coffee cups, with the creation of stakeholder groups such as the Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group. Our throwaway society has given us a tide of litter on our beaches, dead seabirds and fish, and plastic in our food. We all enjoy a take away coffee or tea, but the cups they are served in are particularly difficult to recycle because they combine plastic coating and cardboard. This inquiry will be taking a serious look at solutions like the use of different materials, behaviour change, better recycling and bottle deposit return schemes. Objectives of this inquiry: Impact -What is the environmental impact of waste from coffee cups and plastic bottles? Are the rates of use, collection levels and recycling levels of these products increasing or decreasing over time? -What are the challenges of recycling these products? What obstacles have prevented greater progress in increasing recycling rates? Progress -Are consumers aware of the complexities of recycling these products? How could we increase awareness amongst the public and what impact would this have? -What actions are being untaken by industry to reduce waste generated by coffee cups and plastic bottles? How effective have these initiatives been? How could the Government better support these initiatives? -How effective, to date, have Government and local government led initiatives (such as #1MoreShot) been at reducing waste and increasing the recycling of coffee cups and plastic bottles? What progress has been made to develop a viable, recyclable alternative to the polyethylene coated paper cup? What are the pros and cons of the use of such cups? -What is the likely impact of leaving the EU on UK efforts to reduce coffee cup and plastic bottle waste? Solutions -What initiatives could be utilised to reduce coffee cup and plastic bottle waste or to lessen the impact of this waste? In particular what are the opportunities and risks associated with: - Incentives to encourage the use of re-usable alternatives for these products. - How can we encourage households, businesses, food and drink outlets, and offices to change behaviours or introduce policies to reduce their coffee cup and plastic bottle waste? -How are other countries working to reduce coffee cup and plastic bottle waste? What examples of best practice are there that the UK could learn from?
Conclusion Killing of millions of trees and once removed from the ecosystem, those trees no longer produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide nor filter ground water. But, it's not only about trees. Consider all the ink, plastic, chemicals, water and multiple fuels that go into the manufacture of these cups. In addition, billion pounds of CO2 are released into the atmosphere during the production and shipping of those paper cups. Given that the average cup of coffee has a fifteen-minute life span, we have to ask ourselves if it is really worth it. Use ceramic cups Producing, shipping and washing ceramic cups also has an impact on the environment but, over all, it's still the best option. Starting today - Slow down and smell the coffee! I think we need to take a few minutes out of our busy lives to "slow down and smell the coffee." That is, ask for a ceramic cup (or better yet, carry your own), sit down and savor the flavor, even if it's for only fifteen minutes. It's better for the environment, our health, our mental state and our taste buds will smile too! Sources: http://www.epsdistribution.com.au/the-environmental-effect-of-paper-coffee-cups/ https://www.benders.co.uk/about/environment/
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