Paper Cups Versus Styrofoam Cups: Surprise Winner
This is on the front page of Care2.com, por favor go and vote for it!
Lil’ story; there’s a coffee place near here called Cup A Joe, which has some good coffee and a really nice atmosphere that reminds me of good ol’ Asheville. I’ve been there many-a-time, since they have two locations around NC State.
Anyhoo, last week, mi jefe wondered aloud why Cup A Joe uses styrofoam cups instead of paper. I was like dang, I don’t know. So I wrote them an email asking if they’d considered using paper cups, and asking how they could use styrofoam cups when they knew it made Captain Planet weep green tears. I got a quick reply which showed that they had indeed thought of “green” issues when making their business decisions:
Paper Cups Cause More Trash than Styrofoam Cups
It turns out that when Cup A Joe used paper cups, “almost 100% of [their] customers demand[ed] the added cardboard sleeve”, which the styrofoam cups do not require.
Also as well additionally, it turns out styrofoam is an excellent material for recycling. Here’s what Cup A Joe had to say: “We recycle a large percentage of the cups. Many customers return their used cups for that purpose. It is a small expense for us, but worth it.”
Paper Cups Don’t Biodegrade
Well, they do eventually (as does anything, eventually), but it takes much more time than I’d thought for a paper cup to biodegrade. The gubmint says, “Modern landfills are designed to inhibit degradation so that toxic wastes do not seep into the surrounding soil and groundwater. The paper cup will still be a paper cup 20 years from now.”
Paper Cups Use More Raw Materials and Energy Than Styrofoam (And Cost More)
This was a surprise to me.
“A study by Canadian scientist Martin Hocking shows that making a paper cup uses as much petroleum or natural gas as a polystyrene cup. Plus, the paper cup uses wood pulp. The Canadian study said, ‘The paper cup consumes 12 times as much steam, 36 times as much electricity, and twice as much cooling water as the plastic cup.’ And because the paper cup uses more raw materials and energy, it also costs 2.5 times more than the plastic cup.”
Reusable Cups Are The Way To Go
Final thoughts from Cup A Joe:
“Finally, we have always tried to provide an atmosphere and a level of service that sort of induces folks to sit down and enjoy their coffee in our shops. My guess is that we do more ‘eat-in’ business than all of the Starbucks in Raleigh put together. This sort of business means our people have to hustle to keep up with washing dishes, but also that neither paper, nor cardboard, not styro is needed to consume the coffee. Anyway, hope this helps. And thanks for asking. Frankly, we are surprised that more people don’t ask.”
There you have it. A good eco-friendly reason to (if you must use disposable cups) use styrofoam cups instead of paper cups. It sounded crazy to me at first, but after reading about it, I realized it was crazy like a fox.
hu?
What are the paper cups coated with so they don't disintegrate when hot liquid is added? Whatever it is, are we ingesting that, too? It isn't as if these paper cups aren't loaded with chemicals and dyes and bleaches and what not.
COOL
Bring you own mug wherever you go. If you just have to have a cup of coffe on the go, use that cup or thermos. Is is not hard, just a new way of living and thinking. Also bring your own containers for left over foods when dining out. Hey, tell the restaurant that it is a win win situation if they look at you as you are nuts. The save money and the customers helps the environment!
Paper cups are typically coated with wax or polyethylene, both are petroleum-based and non-recyclable. There is a significant movement within the paper industry to develop water-based recyclable coatings, and there have been documented successes with this approach. Poly layers are incorporated into milk cartons and other paper food packaging as well. There are fines imposed in Europe for landfilling these materials. Remember that manufacturing processes are ultimately influenced by the end consumer. Great strides have been made in both paper and plastic packaging to reduce environmental effect and increase sustainability. In paper, most mills have fairly closed water loops and recovered fiber plants, and employ recovery boilers that essentially reuse all the byproducts. In plastic, PLA's from corn, etc. are slowly establishing a foothold. But until they make a plastic coffee cup that doesn't leech chemicals into the coffee, comes from a renewable source, and biodegrades to soil in the backyard, I'll go with paper if confronted with the choice.
kool
i agree
THIS IS MISSING CRITICAL INFORMATION! So it takes over 20 years for a paper cup to decompose…how does that compare to the 900 years, or 2000 years, or 1+ million years for the Styrofoam cup? Those varying numbers – - no one knows! Because NOTHING decomposes styrofoam. Geez, what horrible misinformation here!
Not to mention, some styrofoam cups CANNOT BE RECYCLED.
I for one can taste the "styrofoam"(polystyrene) when I drink something hot from them. That means I am ingesting chemicals . If we stick with the industry lobbyist theory that paper is worse than polystyrene I will have to be recycled soon. By the way in most parts of the country there is VERY limited styrofoam recycling.
Maybe I wasn't clear enough… disposable cups (paper or styrofoam) are both bad in different ways. The best (and easiest) thing to do is for everyone to use reusable cups — cheaper (in the long run), better for the environment, and better insulation and taste.
all you have to do is search (why is styrofoam is bad)
THIS IS THE WAY TO GO …..http://www.ecoproducts.com/cms/category/1.html
TRUST ME THIS IS THE NEW GREENER WAY TO GO
Domestic Solar Power…
It looks like we have similar ideas on this subject….
A few things to keep in mind….polystyrene is from a non-renewable resource. It is designed to be disposed of, and most is. Less than 1% is actually recycled. Styrofoam emits Benzene (convulsions, vomiting are just a few side effects) and Styrened into the air and into our food. The EPA human tissue study years ago found 100% of all samples of human fat contained Styrene (headaches, anxiety, blood abnormalities…). Animals eat the stuff. They choke and die, their digestive tracts get clogged. To say that it is better than paper is strange thinking my friends.
I think it is slightly misleading to say that paper cups do not biodegrade at all. If they are correctly sorted and composted then they do indeed biodegrade, likewise they can be easily recycled if such a scheme is available. However the sad truth is that a lot of the time these cups are, as you say, simply disposed of and throw in a landfill with the rest of the household waste.
It is true that a lot of recyclables are thrown into the trash and end up in landfill. However, most paper cups cannot be recycled becuase of the wax lining. Same goes for any cardboard liquid container i.e. milk, juice etc… The wax contaminates the pulping process. Bummer huh? As for compostables, they are a wonderful alternative especially if the region has an industrial composter to handle the waste. Otherwise, landfill are anaerobic so lack of oxygen leads to a lack of break down.
All this GREEN stuff if killing me. Straight from the people who thought the world was coming to an end in Y2K. People never learn. Follow the money and you'll see why companies are pushing green!
All the green stuff is coming from people who used to worry about how COBOL stored dates?
Yeah, it's a good thing they fixed the date issue, otherwise we woud be SOL. Same goes for oil, it's running out and we've gotta find an alternative. Wait, there isn't a comparable alternative (cheap, portable energy). Guess we are all SOL. Get ready for mass starvation within 100 years, it's coming.
Hocking's papers are starting to become a little dated and are full of exceptions. I have not read the paper Vs Styro one but I know this is true for his paper Vs ceramic articlle.
Maybe cup of Joe could offer incentives for consumers to bring their own?
The cups shown above are not Styrofoam. Styrofoam is a Dow Chemical trade name and is never made into cups. This is expanded polystyrene, not Styrofoam. Styrofoam is extruded polystyrene and made into sheets of foam that are light blue and used to insulate your homes. I am surprised Dow Chemical has not sued you back to the stone age for using their trade name..
What makes you so sure that they HAVEN'T?
I just want to stress that this article is blatantly one-sided (and I'm glad some of you guys did already realize that). And I still refuse to use styrofoam. It takes 50 years for a paper cup to biodegrade but it is also important to know that despite the fact that the article says everything biodegrades at eventually, styrofoam doesn't. You cannot say that something that takes millions of years to biodegrade is biodegradeable; we live in hundreds of years. I am all for the reuseable mug–thirft stores have mountains of them for cheap, too. But if you're going to use a cup you want to throw away; make it a paper one. I'm not one to advocate landfill-use, but it is the lesser of the much greater evil that is styrofoam. The posting of this article just validated millions of people's decision to take 5 steps back to styrofoam and that's just sad.
im doing a science fair project this is exactly what i needed!!
Annnnnnnnd people are still more concerned about the rate at which materials biodegrade, instead of the rate at which they are killing themselves by using said materials as mediums for food and drink consumption. Stop using them.
At least a dozen U.S. cities have banned polystyrene aka styrofoam for these reasons:
1. It's a petroleum product that NEVER breaks down.
2. It's made with benzene, a carcinogen and neurotoxin that should never come in contact with food.
3. It's toxic when burned
4. It makes up 30% of landfill waste
5. It blocks the digestive tract of animals when ingested
6. recycling it just creates more
Do some research folks. Refuse to use it. Bring your own cups.
I agree 100% to GREEN108.
To the people who are reading this, think on a larger scale how one's actions can impact the environement. We all have opportunities to take action, but at the very least, we can take our own cup or mug.
The paper cups we use also come wih a wax coating. Though it may be recyclable, it still costs a great deal of electricity and water to reproduce.
The Styrofoam cups, well its not rocket science and nor do you have to understand rocket science to know how harmfull these cups are to the environment.
Follow the four "R" 's in life…and you have done the least…
-REFUSE
-REDUCE
-REUSE
-RECYCLE
but what i think you have to look up is how bio degadeable is a styrofoam cups aren’t eighter. and if i remember right the take longer to disiigrate compared to some paper products. True when you know they are being recycled styrofoam might be a better chioce but if you use them say in a school cafiteria there’s no way you know for sure if there being recycled.
Thanks for all the recent comments… I shall be posting a look back at this question soon, hopefully after doing more research than I did the first time.
im all into keeping the planet safe and all that stuff but in my opinion when you drink out of a styrofoam cup you can taste the styrofoam and the little white things fal off in your mouth so i would rather use a paper cup.
And someone out there actually thinks polystyrene is GOOD for you? Polystyrene leaches PBA's. Do you know what those do to your body? Cancer, anyone?
We, the good old USA need to catch up with Europe where all these poisons are banned by the government. This also includes use of LEAD in artificial Christmas trees and and all electrical cords and supplies…..
Please give me some links to research on this subject other than from those who are preaching to the choir. The links seem to be circular just stating what the previous one said. I cannot find the actual research that these statements are based on. Not that they are not true, but rather to make a convincing scientific argument, I will need the research.
[...] http://www.ecojoes.com/styrofoam-cups-vs-paper-cups/ as ever the debate wages over how plastic is chepaer and light so more environmnetally sound….though you have to take into account how its going to be disposaed of and wether you can be sure that it will go the right way. … what it really bioils down to is that no one use disposable can really be good for the planet [...]
Paper cups don’t biodegrade? I think that Cup of Joe also needs to consider the fact that styrofoam does NOT biodegrade at all. So in that regard, paper wins.
Also, remember that most businesses – such as the one I work at – do not recycle their styrofoam, and it is eventually thrown out. While styrofoam might be the better choice here for Cup A Joe, for most companies that is not the case. I also find it extremely hard to believe that “many customers return their used cups” so that Cup A Joe can recycle them. Honestly, we live in a fast food nation – you be the judge of who takes the time to actually return styrofoam cups (ink about all of the times you’ve seen a plastic bottle in a trash can that is placed next to a recycle bin)
Third, when you think about the raw materials used for paper (which indeed have an environmental cost), think about the cost to create styrofoam – depletion of the ozone layer as well as health problems for us and our children (carcinogens). Tradeoffs, people – is this really justification for using styrofoam over paper?
I think this article is extremely misleading – while Cup A Joe practices a good solution to styrofoam by recycling, that cannot be justification for choosing styrofoam over paper. Indeed, the best solution is to use a reusable mug (these can be made from a corn base and are rather enviromentally-friendly), but when it comes to styrofoam and paper, I must say that I think the facts point to using paper.
@green108 Just about the only thing I can agree with you on is to use your own cups/mugs. A lot of coffee shops around here allow it and actually offer a slight discount.
DARNELL HUTCHCENSIN
If anyone's still reading this, I'll make this REAL simple: You ARE drinking polymers, but your not passing them… GET IT? OK, which would you rather eat, a foam cup or a paper cup? As mentioned here, animals would also rather eat wood than plastic. Anyone who answers otherwise is obviously a dangerous mislead greenpeace creature !
Plastic does not decompose, paper does, paper gets recycled so it contributes to the ecosystem on earth. Plastic ends up in the ocean, fish, and in our bodies as dust particles. Plastic is cheaper, paper is now compostable and can be used to recreate energy. Cradle to cradle…..
Awesome site yo have btw
The problem with styrofoam cups, as I understand it, is that they do not biodegrade (ever). So! that presents a problem. Also there is very little recycling available and a very small percentage of styrofoam is recycled. perhaps the answer is to use ceramic cups.
I send my paper cups to the recycling bin along with all my other paper waste. I have looked into this "paper cup that does not break down soon" stuff. The fact of this matter is that when one goes to a place where one can recycle paper{we have recycling bins at numerous grocery stores and most cities, even small, have a recycling center}. This bin makes for a lot of recycled paper stationary and some goes into packaging and packing. All of the paper that goes into the bins is recycled. With not much effort, YOU can be less left a carbon,ecological foot print.
PEACE
NO to paper and ESPECIALLY HELL NO to styrene or any kind of plastic cups! The so-called styrofoam cups are made with styrene and benzene – two known carcinogens that seep into your coffee or any HOT Drink you consume from this hazardous material. I am convinced that long-time drinkers using styrene or styrofoam cups to drink hot drinks regularly are at a huge risk for cancers. I have been conscious of health issues for a long time and highly recommend bolstering your body's master antioxidant, glutathione, which is 1,000 times more powerful than Vitamin C for combatting and sequestering free radicals. See info at the following – http://superantioxidant.maxgxl.com Now, as for the cups, I HIGHLY Recommend that you all purchase a high quality, stainless steel travel cup. It saves trees, but more importantly, IT SAVES YOU, along with our environment! All the best of health to you and yours this holiday season, in the New Year and always.
you guys are all nuts!!! Styrofoam is bad for both the environment and our body. Do some research you retards!!!!
Thank you! This is very insightful and helpful! I myself (in Los Angeles) was wondering the very same question when I noticed a local coffee shop served coffee in styrofoam cups. I thought initially that this was more harmful to the ecosystem than its paper counterpart (which is used by companies like Starbucks). However, after reading this, I really do see the light! Thank you so much, this has answered so many of my questions.
It's good to know that more and more people are becoming aware of how waste management affects our environment and adopting environmentally-friendly practices. Another way you can go green is by managing waste in your home. For instance, I have paper shredder at home and I dispose of my paper waste using it and sending it to recycling centers afterward.
It is good to hear about these facts regarding environmentally-friendly practices. More and more people should be aware of the importance of understanding these eco-friendly processes and how every little step helps. I promote recycling at home and we manage our paper waste by shredding our files before we discard them.
There are so many great ideas for eco-friendly practices out there. It is inspiring to know that a lot more people are becoming creative and innovative in coming up with environmentally-friendly ways of doing everyday things. Recycling is becoming a lifestyle trend and this bodes well for our future and the environment. Even simple steps like managing your document disposal by shredding them and taking them to recycling centers is a great way to contribute to the environmental cause.
[...] In case you think I’m blowing this out of proportion, did you know that Sam’s Club still uses styrofoam cups because they claim they’re more eco-friendly? And some other research indicates that they might be right? [...]
[...] of … how much it costs to recycle and whether you can be sure that it will not end up on the streets. …cos you know even if you don’t litter a lot of trash is blown out of [...]
Perhaps a change of angle on this would work better.
Instead of getting people to change the cups they use, why not get the government/councils/Starbucks to put recycle bins next to ordinary ones on the street making it simple for people to recycle their used cups?
Now that is certainly a good piece of information that I didn’t know until now. Thanks for the share but I think I’m gonna still stick with my own flask when I need my next caffeine fix.
[...] Eco Joe tells us that styrofoam is actually the “greener” choice over paper. For example: Paper Cups Don’t Biodegrade. Well, eventually they will (as does anything, eventually), but it takes much more time than I’d thought for a paper cup to biodegrade. The gubmint says, “Modern landfills are designed to inhibit degradation so that toxic wastes do not seep into the surrounding soil and groundwater. The paper cup will still be a paper cup 20 years from now.” [...]
The problem has nothing to do with foam vs paper, it should be a discussion about modern habits. Long ago people made made tea and coffee at home or at work so they never considered the “to go” option. You are not really enjoying your expensive beverage if you are in a hurry anyway, why not take 5 from your busy day and relax? Well since cup sizes have become outrageously huge (venti?), the old 6 oz tea cup is just a myth now and it would take 20 min to finish a coffee….of course you’d take it to go. I remember reading somewhere that many european cars did not have cup holders even in recent times. The culture of consumption and the addiction to caffeinated beverages is something we all need to think about. If you “need” coffee, then you’ve got a problem. Imagine how much waste you’d save if you bought beans and made your own joe or drank from the shops just twice a week.
[...] far more chemical byproducts in its creation that are all harmful to the environment. To hell if Styrofoam is vastly more friendly to the environment when you actually take everything that is required to make it into account. We need to ban it [...]
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are this greener styrene cups the same that leak into our drink?? aren't there enought things trying to give us cancer already?… http://www.grinningplanet.com/2008/04-08/foam-cup…