Andrew Donohue, voiceofsandiego.org‘s executive editor, is thinking globally and acting locally. You may remember his short-lived quest to get local restaurants to recycle.
Now he’s turned to my (admittedly wasteful) paper coffee cups. He gave me a mug this week. What a guy.
Turns out, he isn’t alone in his concern. Poughkeepsie Journal reporter Sarah Bradshaw took a look today at a Vermont-based coffee company’s plans for a more biodegradable cup:
The amount of coffee cups disposed of by Americans each year would wrap around the Earth 55 times if placed end to end, according to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.
That equals about 14.4 billion cups each year and a whole lot of trash.
Green Mountain, a company that uses 200 million coffee cups annually, took into consideration they contain a plastic lining made from a petrochemical that isn’t biodegradable and is harmful to the environment. In July, the Vermont-based roaster announced the launch of its bio-plastic cup.
The story is here.