Zero waste disposable coffee cups

Australians have a love affair with coffee, each year using an estimated 1 billion disposable coffee cups.

That's approximately 2,700,000 paper cups tossed out every day. As the masses opt for convenience in favour of sustainability, the result is a global plastic pollution crisis of unprecedented scale with single-use plastics and coffee cups at the centre of media,
consumer and policy-maker attention.

A more sustainable alternative
When we buy a product we also buy any waste associated with the product. Our disposable coffee cups are made from paper sourced from only from managed plantations, and a coated with Ingeo™ – a bioplastic made from plants, not oil. We use a heavy-duty, premium quality board giving our coffee cups superior stability, better lid fit and insulation, plus we print with soy or water-based inks.

Our coffee cups are commercially compostable which reduces greenhouse gases, returns nutrients back to the earth and improves soil quality, and costs less than sending waste to landfill.

Compostable cups are a proven solution
But what if commercial composting infrastructure isn’t available? Aiming to close the loop, our latest initiative, the BioPak Compost Service provides cafes and restaurants the option to divert their food scraps and compostable packaging from landfill.

With a network of logistics and compost partners, the BioPak Compost Service is available in nine cities across Australia and New Zealand – Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Hobart, Newcastle and Wollongong, with more to come.

Our vision is a world without waste. We believe it is no longer acceptable to produce items with a linear lifecycle from cradle to grave, rather we should be inspired by nature, eliminate waste, transition to a circular lifecycle model – where waste is no longer waste but rather a
valuable resource.

But what about biodegradable?
According to the ACCC, companies that make environmental or green claims should ensure that their claims are scientifically sound and appropriately substantiated.

Compostable claims must be independently certified to local home or commercial compost standards, and the type of compost environment – home or commercial – must be stated to avoid misleading the consumer.

Things aren’t as clear when it comes to defining ‘biodegradability’, as technically, everything is biodegradable given sufficient time. Unlike certified compostable products, in Australia and New Zealand there are no industry standards required in order to describe a product as
biodegradable.

But, describing a product as ‘100 percent biodegradable’ or ‘100 percent degradable’ is an absolute claim that usually means ‘entirely’ or ‘totally’, indicating that the whole of the product will biodegrade or degrade in the same way and over the same time period — and that’s not likely.

The cup that counts
Every time we purchase something, we cast our vote for the kind of future we want to have. As a responsible business, we have an obligation to preserve and protect the environment and to give back and support the communities in which we operate. We donate our time, energy and 5 percent of all profits to environmental restoration initiatives and community programs that contribute to the welfare of less fortunate individuals and help accelerate the transition to a circular economy by promoting sustainability, economic development and self-
sufficiency.

(Photo credit: BioPak Facebook)