Trouble with reducing your coffee cup waste

Change is difficult. If you've never tried to make change happen, it can be frustrating, annoying, and at times, hopeless. You keep doing it, in hopes that the reward of seeing the change actually happen will make it worthwhile. The times it has worked, it has been very rewarding. So if you're trying to drive change, keep plugging away. It will happen eventually...

Here's an example of how frustrating it can be. I have been working a lot lately, and staying up late. I need a caffeine fix the next morning, so I go to McDonald's for their caramel iced coffee. I brought in my refillable coffee cup and asked that it be used, instead of a plastic cup (and lid and straw). I hate having a stack of plastic cups in my car, to show me how much coffee I've drank, and how much waste I've generated. I take them home to recycle them, but I'd rather not use them in the first place. The problem I ran into is that the way McDonald's coffee system is setup, the cup defines the right amount of coffee, sugar and caramel (or mocha) mixture. If you remove the cup out of the process, you lose the recipe and consistency.



The manager offered to take my cup and pour the coffee into it (after using their cup to mix it), but I suspected that their cup would have been discarded after use, so would I have gained anything? I guess I could have avoided the use of a straw (they needed the lid to shake and mix the coffee). Frustrating!

I guess my point for this blog is that it takes everyone involved in the whole process to think green and environmentally-friendly in order for change to occur. We as consumers can help drive it, but you will really start to see major changes when the people designing the processes are thinking that way from the beginning. It takes the cup suppliers to provide more compostable materials for their cups, and it takes the "coffee process engineer" (someone must have that title, right?) to develop a process that does not require the cups, and can handle any size cup. Dunkin Donuts has a process that is not dependent on cup size, so it definitely is possible.

I'm not trying to pick on McDonald's. They are an easy target, and to their credit, they have been making an attempt to do the right thing. The problem exists in every business we frequent.

Keep pushing. Keep asking for more eco-friendly solutions. You may inspire the coffee process engineer behind you in line without even realizing it!