Cups. A Deep Dive. “Introductions”. Part 1 of 4.

Of all the things I that knew would be challenging when opening Little Martian CP; everything from sizing a battery bank, to learning the ins and outs of a small solar set up, to building a cart from scratch using (subjectively) “sustainable” sources, to permits and all the rest… I underestimated one fundamental issue: Cups.

Gosh.Darn.Cups.

Seriously, this is a cornerstone product of this project. It is the means required to sell anything; a container to hold coffee. And yet, for much of this process it has been something of an afterthought.

For the past few months, however, it has been the primary subject of my (albeit limited) intellectual capacity.

…And these cups… They are breaking me.

You see, the paper cup is darn near perfect in its design. It is cheap to manufacture, light weight and stackable (easy/cheap to ship), which translates to cheap per item cost for the consumer. Beyond simple economics, it does its job remarkably well. It keeps hot liquids inside without leaching plastic flavors or leaking.

On top of all this, it has become a ubiquitous symbol of modern coffee culture; anyone who’s anyone has a fashionably stamped or otherwise customized paper cup from a desirably hip shop.

You may now understandably be asking, “well, if it’s so perfect, why is it causing you such problems?” Because being cheap and easily disposed of are the keystone prerequisites of an ecologically destructive product.

In the US alone, we throw out about 50 billion paper cups a year, averaging out to almost 137 million per day. To make these cups annually requires 29 billion liters (7.9 billion gallons) of clean water and 20.7 million trees; the equivalent of almost 2,700 Sequoia National Parks and nearly 850 *full* volume Lake Meads (at 9.3 million gallons).

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Surely, I could quell my reservations in the knowledge that I am not responsible for this; that on a good day at the market, I can expect to sell a mere 20-30 cups of coffee, hardly a dent in the grand total of the day.

However, according to this article from startmycoffeeshop.com, which quotes statistics from the National Coffee Association, 53% of coffee drinkers purchase their morning cup from a local, independent shop. This means that the majority of the cup waste generated in the US doesn’t come from giant, multinational chains, they come from us; small shops with “limited individual impact”.

In short, small shops/stands like mine hold a substantial amount of power in the quest to end cup waste.

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So, what are the potential alternatives to traditional PET-lined paper cups?

The simple answer, as described in my previous post on the subject of “eco-friendly” products, is that there is no simple answer. An “eco-friendly” replacement product is never (prove me wrong) “eco-friendly” in its own right, rather only when viewed in comparison; and even then, only sometimes.

However, as “nothing” makes for a pretty poor vessel (maybe I should rename LM to “Handful Coffee”, Tagline: “Hold out your hands, feel the burn!”), we need an alternative. But what?

Unfortunately, the complexity of this question is often undervalued.

For, in order to make a determination as to what is “better”, a host of metrics, some outside the bounds of what some would consider “sustainability”, must be considered.

For example, a theoretical “cup A” is a fully biodegradable vessel, manufactured with FSC certified recycled wood pulp and produced by solar power. Is it better than a theoretical “cup B”, produced with un-sustainably clear cut forests made using coal power?

An easy “yes”, right?

However, what if “cup A” was made by people working in conditions akin to a Uyghur camp? Is it still “better” than the ecologically inferior cup if that one was made by well payed union workers somewhere in the US?

How can we possibly be asked to balance our values in a decision that pits the killing of a forest (and all of the biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and benefits it holds) with the unimaginable conditions faced by human beings in some factories that our everyday items originate.

And how is this a blog post about cups? When I first began to think about writing this post, my plan was to speak of deforestation and ecological peril. The more research I did for the piece, however, the more I realized that, like most things we must consider both the human toll as well as environmental degradation in our quest for true “sustainability”.

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In the coming weeks, we will look at the two main challengers to the paper cup monopoly: reusables and compostables. The environmental and social impacts as well as the monumental task of us(l)urping the status quo.