A coffee cup which several major corporations were involved in the production of was recently awarded the 2007 Sustainability Award from the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA).
The ecotainer™ cup debuted last year in a well publicized partnership between the principal producer International Paper and coffee retailer Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.
Since its launch with Green Mountain, International paper has developed a stock design of the coffee cup and is in the process of rolling it out into use with other customers.
Ecotainer is touted as having a "smaller environmental impact" than traditional disposable coffee cups which often contain a plastic lining made from a petrochemicals enabling the cup to handle hot liquids. The ecotainer cups have an inner plastic biopolymer lining derived from corn. According to International Paper they are made from fully renewable resources and are compostable under "proper conditions."
The technology represented in this cup was developed by International Paper's Coated Paperboard and Foodservice businesses in partnership with DaniMer Scientific, LLC (Danimer Scientific, LLC, a privately held Georgia-based company). A corn-based polylactic acid resin from NatureWorks LLC (a stand-alone company wholly-owned by Cargill) is modified by DaniMer Scientific to create a new material that can be applied to paperboard to create a water-resistant barrier. This new material replaces the petrochemical plastic lining mentioned earlier.
International Paper says, "We believe the introduction of the ecotainer™ cup is a strong first step in our journey. All of us can make a difference - one cup at a time."
While ecotainer is an interesting product in order for it to have a major impact on the 15 billion disposable coffee cups used annually in the US, the cup would have to be widely used. Issues like production impact, cost and source of materials are unknown.
Visit Chicago-based Reusable Bags for an excellent selection of
reusable coffee mugs
The obvious alternative is a reusable coffee mug...why they don't catch on is a mystery to me.
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