5 Recyclable Alternatives to Traditional Coffee Cups

As an entrepreneur, recyclable products can enable you to help preserve natural resources. Fossil reserves are at risk of over exploration. Plus, trees aren’t as safe as the demand for timber and packaging products heightens. If you operate a coffee business, it would be best to use recyclable coffee cups.

Recyclable coffee cups maximize the value of natural resources. By recycling, paper converts into other useful home products. Instead of cutting a tree to manufacture papers, a coffee cup can provide the raw material.

Unfortunately, finding recyclable coffee cups is a struggle for many businesses. There’s a lot of misleading information on the recyclability of coffee cups. Most people believe a coffee cup isn’t recyclable. Newsflash! We have for you a review of recyclable coffee cups creeping into our restaurants.

Recyclable paper cups — Recyclable Paper Cups

Bio/Compostable Coffee Cups

Stability can guarantee smooth business operations for many years to come. You want efficiency to save costs, and a stable image to ensure flow in of customers. If you’re confident of zero disruptions, you can focus on expanding your business.

Coffee cups influence business stability. If you’ve sustainable coffee cups, you can allay fears of tainting the environment. You’re also likely to enjoy a positive reputation. What’s more, a better image can attract positive reviews from your customers.

Bio paper cups seem to be the warm coffee cup infiltrating coffee businesses. Here, green entrepreneurs have a reliable asset to reinforce their sustainability ethos. It can enable enterprises to reduce their waste and carbon imprint.

Bio paper cups are both recyclable and compostable. They offer all the benefits of stability expected from sustainable options. What if your business can’t recycle? You can deposit this coffee cup at the nearest composting facility.

When recycling was once a challenge, many times coffee cups diverted to landfills. The coffee industry needed an alternative that offered several discarding options. In came the bio paper cup. Instead of a plastic film, this coffee cup braces a compostable and a recyclable lining.

Sugarcane Coffee Cups

As the demand for eco-friendly products increases, coffee cup innovations pop up. Besides corn starch, there’s another plan based material arising to enhance sustainability.

Sugarcane bagasse coffee cups may not be readily available. But they seem like an exciting alternative to plastic. Besides, the renewability of sugarcane is an advantage for any green business.

Sugarcane bagasse coffee cups are also recyclable and compostable. Like bio paper cups, this coffee cup employs PLA as insulation against heat. PLA is a biofilm from cornstarch, and its renewable, compostable and recyclable.

Bioplastic Coffee Cup

PLA is now the most dominant raw material for coffee cups. It features in most recyclable coffee cups. Bio paper cups, sugar cane, bagasse coffee cups and now bioplastic coffee cups use PLA.

Bio paper cups use PLA for heat insulation. Paper from FCS and PEFC forests features as the primary material for the bio paper cups. Bioplastic coffee cups are different from bio paper cups.

Bioplastics comprise the PLA material in their entirety. They are recyclable and biodegradable but are not the best for composting. In an industrial composting, bio-plastics take longer to break down, unlike paper.

Yet, a good deal of businesses uses the bioplastic coffee cup. Because of their recyclability, they fit in as a sustainable option. Any company using the bioplastic cup must have access to recycling facilities.

Choosing bioplastic coffee cups can be tricky. These coffee cups vary between the amorphous variants and highly crystalline options. Highly crystalline containers may be heat resistant, but they are harder to degrade.

Amorphous variants are more biodegradable, but they are less heat resistant. Meaning, most bioplastic coffee cups could be unsuitable for serving hot coffee.

PE Coated Coffee Cups

If you’re a coffee devotee, you must have used the PE coated coffee cups. PE coffee cups have been in the market since plastic rolled into the market. Before PE, porcelain mugs were a staple in restaurants. Paper coffee cups comprised a clay coating, and foam cups were the choice for most coffee lovers.

With the growing culture of takeout coffee, porcelain mugs lost their appeal. PE coated coffee cups and styrene (foam) coffee cups continued to dominate the market. The difficulties of recycling styrene saw PE flourishing as a recyclable coffee cup.

PE coated coffee cups also have their dark side. First, they decompose after 500 years. If you favour hot coffee, PE can risk your life. In the presence of heat, PE leaches antimony, which is a toxic metalloid.

Seaweed Coffee Cups

Most coffee cup innovations revolve around the use of natural and renewable materials. Given the plain effects of plastic, using renewable materials is the best option.

Seaweed coffee cups come from ordinary paper and use a seaweed liner. As you know, seaweed is plant-based. Besides, it provides a compostable and recyclable raw material to the packaging world.

Seaweeds are also renewable. At a growth rate of 0.5 metres in a day, they are the fastest-growing plant in the world.

Even so, seaweed coffee cups may not meet the high demand. Billions of people consume coffee per day. And seaweed is too scanty as a raw material for recyclable coffee cups.

Air NewZealand’s Edible Coffee Cup

Air New Zealand was the first company to trial the edible coffee cup. The cookie coffee cup comprises wheat flour, vanilla flavour, and eggs. It is an exciting idea for a coffee cup, but you can be sure it dons a ton of flaws than benefits.

You can’t classify the cookie coffee cup as a recyclable or a non-recyclable coffee cup. Yet, if you devour the entire cookie after finishing your coffee, it leaves zero waste.

If you’re health-conscious or allergic to gluten, you won’t prefer the edible coffee cup. It’s not news; wheat comes with a bunch of calories. Regular use of this coffee cup can expose you to weight gain and other health problems.

Select Your Recyclable Paper Cup

Now, you’re aware of the recyclable paper cup options available in the market. For the stability of your business, you would want to pick a coffee cup that meets most benefits.

Here’s a tip! The right coffee is accessible, waste efficient and safe for human use.

Bio paper coffee cups are;