Green Concept

We used compostable cups for a couple of years, starting with our first foray into the farmers' market. At that time we could capture a decent number of the cups and get them composted since we had a captive audience at the market. Once we stopped doing markets and did all of our "for here" coffee in ceramic, paying extra for compostable to-go cups made with suspect corn that would end up in the landfill anyway seemed less wise.

We had a rep bring us some unsolicited samples of "green" cups and lids yesterday. She represents a Taiwanese company that has a North American base in Toronto, a city that's been contemplating a paper cup ban. We talked about which strain of PLA they used and how their cups were compostable and not just biodegradable like some competitors. We also talked about how most of the potentially compostable cups she wanted me to buy would end up in landfills anyway. But as she put it, customers don't really care. They just want to be "green", and this "green trend" is very popular right now, and many businesses are going with the "green concept", etc. All sort of reminds me of the 5th Element. Whole lot of "green", whatever that means.

The most interesting thing to me was her company's supply chain. The paper stock was made in China, then the heat-resistant PLA lining is applied to the paper in Japan (which has apparently mastered this art), then back to China for printing cutting and forming of the cups. Then the finished cups are put in container ships bound for ports around the world. Got to check into it, but maybe more locally made Solo hot cups with petroleum plastic liners are a better embodied energy play, especially if going to the dump anyway.