The Disposable Cup Crisis: Exploring the Environmental Impact of To-Go Coffee
Learn about the environmental impact of single-use cups and the need for sustainable alternatives.
The Environmental Impact of Single Disposable Cups
Single-use cups made of paper, plastic, or polystyrene foam have a significant environmental impact from their entire lifecycle, including raw material extraction, production, transportation, and disposal.
Disposable cups, especially those with plastic linings, take a long time to decompose and can release microplastics into the environment. If these cups end up in incineration waste, they can also release pollutants into the air.
The use of polystyrene foam cups, in particular, is a concern due to their non-biodegradable nature, potential harm to wildlife and ecosystems, and the leaching of carcinogenic chemicals during decomposition.
Polystyrene Foam Cups: Lightweight but Harmful
Polystyrene foam cups were introduced in the 1960s as a way to retain heat in beverages. However, these cups contribute to environmental degradation as they take about 500 years to break down.
The US produces about 3 million tons of polystyrene foam annually, with 80% of it ending up in landfills. This material takes up about a third of landfill space and leads to approximately 21 million tons of CO2 emissions per year.
Improper disposal of polystyrene foam cups can result in litter that harms wildlife, and the foam can break into small pieces, posing a threat to animals that may ingest it.
Plastic Cups: Widely Used and Slow to Decompose
Plastic cups, including polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate, are commonly used for cold beverages and contribute to plastic pollution. These traditional plastics break down slowly, turning into micro and nanoplastics that harm ecosystems and wildlife.
Due to their slow decomposition, most of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic ever created still exists. The emissions from a single-use plastic cup range between 10g to 30g of CO2.
Plastic cups do not biodegrade and can remain in the environment for hundreds of years, leaching carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals into our bodies.
Paper Cups: Biodegradable, but Not Without Consequences
In the 1980s, paper cups became popular in the coffee industry, but they still have negative environmental impacts. Most paper cups have a plastic lining to prevent leakage, making recycling difficult and causing the release of microplastics during decomposition.
Improper disposal of paper cups can lead to their decomposition in landfills, generating methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Manufacturing a single paper cup emits about 110g of CO2 and requires the cutting down of approximately 6.5 million trees each year.
Although paper cups are compostable and biodegradable under the right conditions, their overall impact on the environment should be considered.
