I remember back in the 80’s and 90’s when McDonald’s was getting attacked by the media for still using Styrofoam.  Everyone was talking about how it wasn’t biodegradable, and would sit in landfills for umpteen bazillion years, etc.  I think that just might have been my first experience with “going green”.

It seems, though, that no matter how much people complain about products not being environmentally friendly, it always comes down to convenience first.  Take disposable coffee cups, for example.  Imagine how much waste is created from disposable coffee cups.  Much of it is unnecessary, too.

Most offices could do away with them entirely, as could convenience stores.  In fact, if a convenience store offered really good coffee, like so many of them advertise, they could easily sell non-disposable coffee cups.  Especially if they offered a discount or something on refills.  Seems like a no-brainer to me, but yet there’s still disposable coffee cups being handed out all over the place. Offices could give out cups with company logos, or something similar on them.  If you have your own desk, there’s no reason you can’t keep your own coffee cup there.

People love their coffee, and I doubt they would let a little thing like lack of disposable coffee cups stop them from getting it, and those who want their business aren’t about to let it go just to save the environment.  Luckily, it seems those make disposable coffee cups have initiated a bit of a change on their own.  Looking at the packages for various disposable coffee cups, you’ll notice that almost all of them are 100% biodegradable.  This means that, when confronted with the elements, these coffee cups will pretty much disintegrate, given time.  This is great, as it means people can have their coffee cups and eat them too!  Wait…nevermind.

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