How do we reduce Hot Cups in Landfills?

Over 2.5 million beverage cups end up in Vancouver landfills every week.

According to the City of Vancouver’s single-use reduction report. That is a lot of cups going to landfills! The big question is how we are going to reduce this number? Many individuals have already approached this problem come the winter season with strategies such as bringing their own mugs to their favorite coffee shop or refusing a lid to reduce waste. To truly combat this waste problem, we need a more systemic approach that encompasses both businesses and consumers!

We could implement a shared reusable cup system through the city.

The Freiburg Cup reusable cup system is already set-up in Freiburg, Germany. Customers pay €1 deposit for the cup, which can then be returned to one of the 100 participating businesses around the city. So far the program has been a great success, especially among students and young adults. Due to its novelty, many tourists will take and share these cups back home in an effort to spread the program.

We could use compostable materials in conjunction with a robust compostable program.

Compostable hot cups are an alternative to traditional plastic-lined cups that are growing in popularity! Many businesses around Vancouver such as Moja Coffee, and SPUD Be Fresh Market already use compostable cups in their storefronts. Compostable food packaging avoids landfills by being directed to composting facilities instead, lowering your environmental impact and bringing you closer to being zero waste!

We could put a five-cent deposit on disposable cups.

By giving an incentive to properly disposes of your waste, we can encourage coffee lovers to recycle or compost their cups instead of throwing them away. The Binner’s Project has demonstrated how this would work at their annual Coffee Cup Revolution event. They set up a pop-up depot where binners bring disposable cups and trade them in for cash. This year they collected 86,732 cups off the streets of Vancouver in just 3 hours!

How do we reduce the number of disposable coffee cups ending up in landfill? There are many potential solutions and we will be the first to say, compostable paper cups might not be the – be all end all – solution. However, we believe they are a positive step forward.

Check out our hot cups and other compostable products that are on SALE now.

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