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!
5 comments:
Hi Brion, nice suggestion for a ‘coffee process engineer’. Great title! Yes I do understand what you mean. Unless the entire system is not geared towards making it eco friendly, our small efforts sometimes may not bear fruit. And it can be very frustrating at times. http://climatarians.org needs to make changes from the ground up.
Let’s start with coffee
Joost Hoogstrate
Just found out that 7-11 has a self-serve iced coffee machine, where you can just bring back the plastic cup each day, refill it, and use it 4-5 days in a row without any guilt of throwing away the cup. I've been going there for a couple weeks now, and I'm pretty happy. I don't even use a lid or straw. However, the cashiers keep asking if I need a lid. As long as they don't complain about me bringing in my cup for reuse, I'll keep going there from now on.
Found a company that seems promising by providing reuseable and biodegradeable coffe cups
http://www.keepcup.com.au/
There was a coffee cup in a cafe in melbourne called the Hookturn byo coffee cup made to look like a take-away cup but made of silicone. it looks brilliant, not like a kiddies drinking cup or a shiney thermos.
I've made about 50 cups in mine so far and going strong.!
There's this cup which is even a better alternative. It looks exactly like a paper takeaway cup but is made of silicone, so you dont feel like a odd ball walking around the city with a kiddies beaker or a shiney thermos. Its called the Hookturn BYO coffee cup and it was about $11
http://www.hookturnindustries.com.au
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