One of our favorite places to stop for a coffee here in town is the Fig Pantry. Not only is the cutest little spot to stop, but their lattes and pastries are incredible. Recently we’ve found that they made the switch to these compostable cups. We were intrigued so after we’d finished our lattes we tossed the cups into the compost pile on top of the favas and grass clippings. I’ll report back and let you know if the truely do compost.
I did a bit of research and the web address on the bottom of the cup led me to this page here. It seems as though they are building the inside layer with corn instead of with a petroleum product. Great! So now when we forget to bring our cups at least we don’t have to feel quite so guilty.
Hi there,
I rip the base of the cups out, put seed raising mix in and plant my seeds. They sit well in a tray which will hold water and then when they are ready to plant I put the whole lot in the ground.
Hannah
That’s a great idea Hannah! I’ll have to try that after my next latte craving.
Paper PLA Cups which are fairly new in the market, are better alternative than using paper cups made out of trees. Traditional paper cups have plastic lining; while new Paper PLA cups have PLA lining. PLA resin is made out of corn, which is 100% biodegradable and compostable. PLA plastic biodegrades within 60 days in commercial composting facility. Note that traditional plastic takes up to 400 years to degrade!! So, please check out sugarcane products offered by http://www.ecogreenwares.com as their pricing are highly competitive.
It is important to note that biodegradable in the context of PLA cups does not mean you can simply dispose of the items with normal paper waste. A lot of people seem to assume that this is the case, meaning they work out no more eco-friendly than PE coated paper cups!
Did it compost?
We’ve got PLA coffee cups in my office, so I did a little research. PLA plastic is technically biodegradable, but it needs a temperature of over 200 degrees to decompose. You can’t just throw it into your compost heap. It’s also difficult to say whether using food to make products is ethically sound. Just an FYI!