Biodegradable Coffee Cups – A Complete Guide 

Sustainable Coffee Cups

The question is often asked, which are the best disposable coffee cups for your business and the environment?

With the increased awareness of saving our planet, our biodegradable coffee cups are being more and more popular.  These cups are manufactured using a plant-based Polylactic Acid (PLA) Lining, Edenware is our environmentally friendly alternative to the conventional PE lined cups.  Let’s take a look at the sustainable coffee cups we keep in stock:

Single Wall Edenware compostable coffee cup.

Available in white finish in three sizes; 8oz, 12oz and 16oz.  Each case contains 20 sleeves of 50 cups.

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Double Wall Edenware compostable coffee cup.

Available in contemporary Kraft finish in three sizes; 8oz, 12oz and 16oz.  Each case contains 20 sleeves of 25 cups.

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Triple Wall Edenware Ripple coffee cup.

Available in Ripple Kraft finish in three sizes; 8oz, 12oz and 16oz.  Each case contains 20 sleeves of 25 cups.

These cups offer the ultimate insulation, keeping your drink piping hot and look great too.

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What does Biodegradable mean?

A biodegradable product is one that is capable of being decomposed through the metabolism of microorganisms. What this essentially means for a biodegradable plastic; is that it’s eaten!

This process leaves no trace of the product’s original existence – the carbon atoms within the plastic are broken apart; as organic molecules are created. These molecules can be processed by, and create, organic living things; generating a natural and sustainable lifecycle.

What does Compostable mean?

Compostable products are a subset of biodegradable products, which means as well as biodegrading, they also meet certain criteria under certain conditions.  Our compostable products fall into 2 categories, those that are suitable for home composting and those that are commercially compostable.

Because of the comparatively smaller volumes of waste involved, the temperature in a garden compost heap is lower and tends to be less constant than in an industrial composting environment.  This means that certified home compostable packaging can simply be placed in your home compost.  Products like these will have been rigorously tested in order to meet several standards and carry ‘OK compost HOME’ conformity mark, meaning that any component or material used in the packaging including the printing ink, and the adhesives will break down into carbon dioxide (CO2), water, inorganic compounds and biomass with no visible contaminants or toxic residue/substances suitable to decompose within a garden compost environment.

Commercially compostable products which will have been rigorously tested in order to meet the conditions as set out in EN-13432 and carry the ‘OK compost INDUSTRIAL’ conformity mark, will biodegrade by 90% within 6 months. At 12 weeks 90% of the product should pass through 2mm x 2mm mesh. This stage of testing evidences the disintegration of the packaging product. Finally, the toxicity and quality of the finished compost must not be adversely affected by the ‘compostable’ subject to safely ensure the future growth of organic life.

In order for our commercially compostable products to fulfil the lifecycle we intend for them – an infrastructure, as illustrated below, is vital. Consumers using compostable packaging must be diligent in using a designated commercial food waste stream, while avoiding the disposal of non-compostable materials that will be rejected as contaminates.

Are standard paper coffee cups biodegradable?

No, most disposable cups are not biodegradable as most coffee cups are lined with polyethylene (a type of plastic), so they will not biodegrade.

Can you recycle paper coffee cups?

Your disposable coffee cup might seem like it can be recycled because it is mostly made of paper, however a lot of single-use cups are lined with a film of polyethylene, which means the cups don’t leak but also mean they’re expensive to reprocess (because the materials have to be separated). Most waste management facilities will treat the cups as general waste unless they are sent to a dedicate recycling plant which will break them down.  The ultimate is to use a reusable cup, either a travel mug style or a china type cup but in some environments it may not be currently hygenic to.  You can read more here of how the government introduce a latte levy on disposable coffee cups to try and encourge people to use the reusable style.