This March, Seattle Public Utilities quietly rolled out an updated city-wide recycling plan with the type of efficiency critics rarely expect from government.  Billed as “Better Recycling”, the changes appease the vocal crescendo of recycle-maniacs who have been pushing for broader recycling options for years - and the top dogs in city hall who have set ambitious recycling goals.

The “better recycling” moniker is ambiguous, but the city has covered its bases.  Everything from more pick-up days, to job security, to recycling accessibility is resulting from the program.  But perhaps most interesting for us coffee-lovers is this: paper coffee cups are now recyclable.  There are a few caveats; cups that are too dirty might still be sorted for the landfill, and foam covered cups don’t make the grade.  Nonetheless, this rocked our world at SIS.  New recycling options have the potential to alleviate tons of residential and commercial waste, and advocacy groups (us included) can heave a sigh of relief knowing the city can “walk the walk”.  So does this mean we can close the books on the coffee cup issue? Or would a celebratory Irish coffee be premature?

 

Blue Skies for Eco-Coffee Drinkers

Seattle’s recycling progress should put smiles on java drinkers throughout the world’s coffee capital.  The new coffee cup rule makes recycling more convenient and accessible.  Seattleites seem prone to recycle on instinct, so tossing a cup into the right bin shouldn’t be a hard habit to change.   And public recycling receptacles are already abundant throughout most of the metro area.  It’s too early to predict any impact in quantitative terms, but past successes in Seattle are promising.  In the first year of the big composting push, Seattleites remembered to toss 80,000 tons of food and yard waste into their compost bins.  The common paper cup could very well be the summer-blockbuster sequel.

Of course, municipal reinforcements are always welcomed by environmental non-profits and advocacy groups.  Recycling centers which can handle the complex materials of a disposable coffee cup come with a big price tag.  Amidst tight budgets and a shaky economy, it’s fortunate that the upgrade wasn’t axed.

The new rules could have a big impact on long-term plans for eco-regulations too.  It’s tough to enforce recycling when options are limited.  But now that the city has stepped up to the plate, it’ll be possible to coerce those who create excessive trash to change their habits  And if the city is to hit its goal of diverting 60% of its waste to recycling and composting, this may happen soon.

 

Prevalient Clouds Still Abound

Despite the many benefits, environmentalists should be cautious not to succumb to hubris.  As far as waste solutions go, broad recycling is a proven weapon.  But conservationists cringe when “recycling” becomes the default solution to municipal environmental issues.  Sure, disposable paper cups create landfill waste, and that’s not good.  But what about trees, water, energy, petroleum, and other scarce resources gobbled up by cup production?  Because of the extra resources consumed in the pick-up and recycling process, disposable coffee cups being recycled can claim even more energy than before!  Unless new recycling trucks and sorting centers run on alternative energy, ecoists miss a flawless victory.

This solution also neglects to conserve one important resource in particular – money.  Recycling, although eco-friendly and popular, does come with a cost.  The city has to pay for the state-of-the-art recycling center, businesses must pay for recycling services, and coffee houses still have to pay for their disposable cups.  A recent Wall Street Journal article cited a coffee shop owner in Pennsylvania who lost 40 cents per cup in costs. Comparably, promoting reusable coffee cups as a solution saves money for everyone.  When it comes to a solution that’s friendly to both the financial and environmental bottom lines, recycling may take second place.

Could Seattle’s programs and commitment to recycling serve as the paragon for other municipalities?  It would be an environmentalists dream to see every town and city embrace recycling like Seattle, but the reality is less rosy.  Retrofitting a typical recycling center to process disposable coffee cups is costly and out of reach for most cities.  And even though Seattle pushed these new recycling investments through the budget process, other municipalities may not be so lucky.  I recently visited Lawrence, Kansas to speak with a campus group advocating for glass recycling in bars.  The biggest obstacle they face is that glass recycling isn’t yet available.  Chances are, spending money to recycle coffee cups is low on their priority list.

Even within the coffee capital, the new recycling solution misses a few targets.  Broad recycling may be available, but there’s no guarantee that landlords will provide such amenities to commercial tenants.  As Jim Hanna, Environmental Director for Starbucks pointed out in an SIS interview last year:

“Here in Seattle, where commercial recycling is generally available, we [Starbucks] often lease our store spaces from landlords; which may or may not provide us with recycling options… it’s important to understand that setting up recycling is subject to a lot more variables than just putting some bins out front.”

It isn’t just the torpor landlords putting up obstacles.  Large Seattle institutions like the University of Washington find themselves left out of the celebratory recycling hubbub. An article titled “New City Recycling Program Not Instituted at UW” notes that contracts with disparate waste management companies are the root cause of UW evading the new rules.  This quirky irregularity takes a more serious tone when it’s realized the campus burns through 5000 disposable cups a day. 

So…what about that Irish coffee?

Bottom line, this is a major achievement for environmental movers, the city of Seattle, and coffee lovers.  New recycling rules will undoubtedly lessen the amount of garbage from disposable drink containers.  But only the most credulous of coffee drinkers should believe that the new regulations will close the case on paper cup’s environmental footprint.  Conservation takes a back seat when recycling is driving progress, which does no good in protecting our natural resources. 

Ultimately, it’s still the responsibility of coffee drinkers and the coffee business to actually do something about paper cups.  Whether that means putting in the elbow grease to institute recycling or promoting and using reusable coffee cups, the city government can only do so much.  

 

Tags: activist, Better, BYOC, coffee, coffee house, compost, Conservation, Cost, cups, disposable, eco, ecoist, Expense, garbage, goals, Greg Nickels, is, java, Litter, Management, Mayor, paper, Public, recycle manicas, Recycling, Recyleable, reusable, Seattle, sexy, successful, sustainability, Trash, triple bottom line, Utilities, waste, waste reduction

They say half of all new businesses fail within the first year.  They also say half of those remaining fail within the second year.  By the third year, any business owner still around undoubtedly knows how to play the game.

It’s easy to tell if a coffee house is run by one of these vetted business intellects.  The tell tale signs are visible almost immediately upon entering the store; ceramic mugs by the espresso machine, or signs urging customers to bring their own coffee cup by the register.  By the time I pay for a coffee, the message is clear –this coffee shop thinks disposable cups are bad for business.  Being a thrifty consumer, that small discount I earn when I BYOC always puts a smile on my face.  But the smile of the coffee shop owner must be in a class all of its own.  Thanks for the discount, I think to myself.  No, thank you, the coffee shop owner chuckles back.

How are disposable cups bad for business?  Truth be told, it’s all because of the bottom line.  Disposable cups cost money, and high overhead costs can be fatal to a business.  Even more so, offering disposable cups does nothing to enhance customer appreciation, nor does it help a coffee house attract new customers.  The coffee industry is already oversaturated with competition – and it’s becoming more important to stand out from the crowd.

These conclusions are illustrated in a study published by Starbucks and the Environmental Defense Fund.  The two organizations teamed up in April of 2000 to develop a set of strategies to reduce the environmental impact of serving coffee.   In so doing, the group also found that reducing their environmental impact contributed toward better finances in three specific ways:

First, let’s examine the claim that the supporting reusable cups saves coffee houses money. At its heart, it’s a logical claim.  After all, when customers BYOC, coffee houses don’t have to pay to purchase disposable cups.  This might seem like small savings, but the table below (reproduced from the Starbucks/EDF report) illustrates just how quickly it can add up:

Researchers concluded that Starbucks could save hundreds of dollars a day just by offering reusable coffee cups.  Depending on the size of a coffee house’s customer base, the potential savings are impressive.

The second claim - that reusable cups increase customer satisfaction - originates from market research studies published in the same Starbucks/EDF report.  Researchers found that 82% of customers surveyed favored reusable coffee cups.  These customer noted that reusable cups “insulated coffee well, were attractive, and prevented waste” - all very good reasons.  59% of those surveyed cited environmental concerns as their primary reason for supporting reusable coffee cups.  Interestingly, this survey took place in 2000, before global warming became a main-stream issue in the public eye.  Chances are that even more customers favor reusable coffee cups in a “post-An Inconvenient Truth” world.

The final claim is that reusable cups can help a coffee business develop an identity to which customers can relate.  Marketing people call this “developing brand equity”.  Customers may think, I can buy my coffee anywhere, so why should I buy it at this coffee house?  The answer is in a company’s brand.  For example, drinking a Starbucks coffee has always been more than just coffee.  Beginning in the 90’s, that white cup and green logo became part of an image, even part of a lifestyle.  Right now, McDonald’s is working to brand its new espresso products as the antithesis of Starbucks.  Billboards that state “Espresso served cold, not snobby” are hoping to capitalize on consumers who like their espresso, but don’t identify with the Starbucks image.

So how do reusable cups factor into positive brand equity?  Remember that more than half of surveyed coffee drinkers care about the environment, and those same coffee drinkers are looking for businesses with which they can identify.  A coffee house which displays support for reusable coffee cups is also branding itself as an environmentally aware and socially conscious business - something which is important to more than half of all coffee drinkers!

Regardless of the environmental implications, it’s hard to ignore the positive financial benefits reusable coffee cups offer.  Sustainability Is Sexy offers programs which help businesses transform the potential of reusable coffee cups into real results.  More information about these programs can be found at www.SustainabilityIsSexy.com/Join.html.

To steal from conventional investing wisdom – why should a business work to pay for coffee cups, when those coffee cups could be working to pay the business?

Tags: brand development, brand equity, branding, BYOC, coffee, coffee house, cup, cup discount, customer, customer loyalty, disposable, eco, eco business, environment, Environmental Defense Fund, environmentally friendly, espresso, finance, house, McDonalds, operating, overhead costs, reusable, saving money, smart business, Starbucks, sustainability is sexy

Last week, I was asked a question which completely stumped my brain. “Which is the most eco-friendly disposable cup to use?” The question was asked by a writer from CHOW magazine who was working on an article about environmentally-friendly parties. The article, Drunk on Recycling, was published today and speaks more about disposable party cups than about coffee. Nonetheless, it’s still a good article. The writer raises the question about whether or not it’s acceptable to ask guests to bring their own cup to a party. Of course, answers to this question vary. Most readers seemed hesitant to ask guests to BYOC, and elected instead to use cups from their own shelves. After all, cups are cheap and easy to come by, many said.

But that still leaves the original question, “Which is the most eco-friendly disposable cup?” After the question was posed to me, I began researching the issue. The information I found reminded me of playground argument. The paper cup guys claimed some victory by arguing that their cups take less energy and materials to make than do Styrofoam ones. The Styrofoam people fought back, asserting that their cups could be recycled, whereas paper cups were destined for a landfill. Even newly made compostable cups carried some baggage. One “green” coffee roaster complained that his compostable cups leaked. And as is pointed out in the CHOW article, a compostable cup doesn’t do any good if there isn’t a compost bin in which to put it.

In the end, I came to this conclusion: There is no disposable cup which is truly eco-friendly. Using a cup only one time is wasteful because each one-time-use requires energy and materials and produces garbage. Just as it would be silly to wear a shirt only one time, or drive a new car every commute, it shouldn’t be accepted that we use a coffee cup just once.

This is a philosophy that can be applied to many in the disposable world. I spent a good part of my young adulthood shaving with a disposable razor. It was a abhorrent experience! The razors were cheaply made and didn’t work very well. I went through Gillette’s and Mach 3’s at an alarming rate, always looking for a fresh blade to keep a clean shave. After years and years, I made the switch to an electric razor. What a relief! No more garbage, no more spending money on new razors every few weeks which meant increased savings for me, and no more worrying about a patchy shave due to a dull blade. Not only did I do something to cut down on my own waste, but I turned an experience I normally detested into something which I now can enjoy. Clever, aren’t I?

The same philosophy ought to apply to your coffee habit. Why drink out of a cheap disposable that won’t keep your coffee hot? Treat yourself by using a cup that will make your coffee pleasurable all day long. It seems to me that the most enjoyable cup to use is also the most eco-friendly. Be responsible, use a reusable coffee mug, and enjoy!

Tags: BYOC, CHOW magazine, coffee cups, compostable, disposable, eco-party, environment, paper, paper vs plastic, paper vs styrofoam, styrofoam, sustainability is sexy