THE CASE FOR THE PLASTIC CUP

With the advent of better quality materials and improved design, the plastic cup has come a long way. It is no longer ostracized as it once was for giving the drink a strange taste, wobbling about causing spillage, or, with various technological advances, burning the fingers. Despite overcoming all these problems there are still those who would maintain that the plastic cup should be banned. It is all too easy to lose sight of the original reasoning behind the introduction of single use items, and to assume that they are wasteful and bad for the environment. However a close examination of the facts reveals that in many instances the opposite is true. We would like to try and answer some of the misconceptions about the plastic cup.

Plastic cups offer a convenient and hygienic, method of providing drinks in the workplace. The cups are ready for use in the vending machine, or at the drinks station, keeping the time taken by staff to get a drink down to a minimum. With a brand new plastic cup there are few hygiene concerns, which is not always the case with china cups, which may be badly washed or even chipped or cracked, resulting in an accumulation of bacteria. Where china is used, either with the issue of cups for personal use, or a supply of crockery, cups will require washing. Where and how are they washed?

Some companies will provide a dishwasher for staff use. With the cost of equipment, heating, energy, water and detergents added together, you arrive at a very expensive proposition. There may also be the expense of a person to load and unload the dishwasher, since workers may not necessarily assume this responsibility.

In other companies, staff will be left to wash their own cups, possibly in the sinks located in washroom areas. Not exactly the most hygienic venue for drinking cups! It is also likely that on many occasions the cups may not be washed at all between drinks, or at best given a quick rinse under the tap. Not surprisingly ‘tummy bugs’ are frequent reasons for staff absence.

Whichever washing method is used, each has a time implication, and time in the work place is money. Just twenty people having three drinks a day and taking five minute to wash their cup before each drink amounts to a loss of twenty five hours each week. Annually, this reaches a massive one hundred and fifty days lost production from the workforce! With an average wage of only £40.00 per day, the cost to the company would total £6,000! A staff of one hundred will lose their company £30,000, each year, just washing cups.

As can be seen from above, the use of china whilst appearing better for the environment, actually requires additional energy, water and chemicals for its cleaning after use. It is also a fact that less energy is used in the manufacturing process of plastic cups when compared with that used in the production of crockery.

Another criticism is the use of oil, a finite resource, to manufacture plastics, particularly single use items. In fact, plastics are produced using by-products of oil used in other applications, and even then, only a very small percentage is used for the production of all plastic packaging, including cups.

Then there is the impact on the environment of the distribution process of cups from manufacturer to final destination, which is much greater in the case of china cups due to their weight and size, when compared against plastic cups, which are both lighter and stacked during transportation. Imagine the size of a container containing 2,000 china cups; in comparison with a case of 2,000 plastic, it is easy to see that more vehicles would be needed to move the china around, even without the weight factor being considered. There is of course the factor to consider that china is used more than once, in the above comparison, but this leads to other considerations.

The environmental impact of plastic and china cups, throughout their complete life cycle has been compared. The Tauw report** found that a china cup would need to be used a minimum of 3,000 times before disposal, to equal the impact of a plastic cup used once and thrown away.

If used for three drinks per day, this would equate to the china cup being in use for a minimum of four years. It is unlikely that the cup would remain chip or crack free for this length of time in the working environment. Indeed there are research documents, which give the life of a china cup at under 50 usages in the major institutions (e.g. the NHS)

When disposed of in landfill sites, neither china nor plastic degrade, a process, which even for organic waste, relies on optimum conditions including moisture and/or light.

Plastics and in particular plastic cups can, and are, being recycled. The finite resource need not be wasted but can be reclaimed and used again to manufacture products, which do not require the use of virgin material. All food contact products are made from virgin polymer. Save a Cup collect and reprocess the cups, the material is then used to manufacture useful second-generation products. Studies have also shown that it requires less energy to manufacture an item from recycled material than from virgin material. Many of the products produced from the cups, are then sold back into the offices and factories from where the cups were collected, reinforcing the recycling message.

The vending and food service industry have recognized this need to provide a return ticket for plastic cups, and were instrumental in forming the Save a Cup Recycling Company. The support of the industry has enabled Save a Cup to offer a collection for recycling service for used vending cups nationally.

The concept of cup recycling can be demonstrated by one product in particular.

At the office buy one vended cup of coffee today, drink the coffee, place the plastic cup in the recycling bin, and write with a pencil made from a plastic cup next week. The recycling loop has been closed!