Coffee Cups Are Next • Hacker News Board

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#201

Post by gnicholas » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 4:36 AM UTC

robertAngst wrote: post #153

The alternative- Customers make their own coffee? Instead of driving to a starbucks, they- make coffee at home/work? Is the taste of starbucks that much better that we need to drive to it, use all these extra materials, in the name of our morning drug Caffeine?

It is worth considering the likely second-order effects of this policy. For example, will people who buy Starbucks/Dunkin just use pod machines more frequently instead? Will they buy a coffee machine and make coffee at home, using a single filter for one cup? What are the environmental impacts of these behaviors?

I am especially poorly-positioned to answer these questions since I am not a coffee drinker, but it would probably be a good idea for policymakers to figure out how people will react to a policy like this. Otherwise we might end up with a poorly-target policy that either doesn't make things better (on net) or actually makes things worse.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#202

Post by village-idiot » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 4:44 AM UTC

satori99 wrote: post #96

A former workplace of mine mandated that no-one was allowed to use re-usable coffee mugs at all. This was done because of the mass of dirty, moldy cups that seemed to fill every kitchenette in a multi-floor building. The business was a media organization and it seemed to me like reporters were the worst culprits. The company provided styrofoam cups which were consumed at a enormous rate, and this was deemed to be a b…

Do they not hire adults? That’s disgusting.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#203

Post by BFLpL0QNek » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 4:45 AM UTC

8_hours_ago wrote: post #133

satori99 wrote: post #96

A former workplace of mine mandated that no-one was allowed to use re-usable coffee mugs at all. This was done because of the mass of dirty, moldy cups that seemed to fill every kitchenette in a multi-floor building. The business was a media organization and it seemed to me like reporters were the worst culprits. The company provided styrofoam cups which were consumed at a enormous rate, and this was deemed to be a b…

I feel like dirty dishes have been a problem in every place I have worked. Have any companies wised up and installed a dishwasher in each kitchen, and have someone assigned to run them every night? Or even just pay someone to wash the dishes by hand?

Yes,

Guess it depends on the business.

Large companies I've worked at with several hundred people have multiple dish washers per floor, cleaners going round kitchens on the floor making sure cups/dishes are in the dishwashers, running regular wash cycles and emptying.

Small offices with a handful of people normally have people put cups in the dishwasher at the end of the day and turn it on when leaving.

I guess maybe it's the medium sized companies that have an issue? To many people for a end of day cycle to work, not enough people to justify multiple dishwashers/full time cleaner to keep things in order.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#204

Post by quickthrower2 » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 4:50 AM UTC

Humphrey wrote: post #61

Most of the coffee shops that I frequent offer an AUD 50c (US 35c) discount if you bring your own reusable cup. It works well!

And they'll sell you a AUD$25 reusable cup.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#205

Post by village-idiot » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 4:51 AM UTC

8_hours_ago wrote: post #133

satori99 wrote: post #96

A former workplace of mine mandated that no-one was allowed to use re-usable coffee mugs at all. This was done because of the mass of dirty, moldy cups that seemed to fill every kitchenette in a multi-floor building. The business was a media organization and it seemed to me like reporters were the worst culprits. The company provided styrofoam cups which were consumed at a enormous rate, and this was deemed to be a b…

I feel like dirty dishes have been a problem in every place I have worked. Have any companies wised up and installed a dishwasher in each kitchen, and have someone assigned to run them every night? Or even just pay someone to wash the dishes by hand?

You just need to convince everyone to get their own unique cup, and they’ll take care of it themselves. Just make sure there’s plenty of dish soap and replace the sponge at an appropriate cadence.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#206

Post by khrbrt » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 4:54 AM UTC

topmonk wrote: post #166

defterGoose wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing, whatever, could be wrong with me. The world must be as it is, logically. Why try to improve? And if you say we must, I'll question, flail, pout, and then call it unjust. Don't tell me it's my fault, for I just got here. I'll blame it on past people, maybe a peer. My life is just fine, and if others' are not, Well, life's just unfair, they deserve what they got! Do it for children, you'll say, and I'll sneer,…

The guy has a point, and all you do is dodge and shame. Landfills take a tiny portion of space in the US. Why are we so concerned?

Let's say we pick spots in the desert to store all our trash. How we do we move all the trash from the population centers to the landfill? Fleets of trucks and railcars which emit tons of CO2 and would be better used elsewhere in the economy.

If we place landfills closer to population centers, then there is a much high opportunity cost for more productive uses for that land and greater care required for preparing the landfill so that contaminants don't leak into the water supply.

Either way, it would be better to reduce landfill space as much as possible.

More philosophically, we can't just keep living this "throw away lifestyle". There is a finite amount of land and resources. My generation is growing up facing a total climate collapse, and this way of thinking is the major reason why.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#207

Post by mattlondon » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 4:57 AM UTC

julianozen wrote: post #194

mattlondon wrote: post #169

Ask HN: Would a disposable metal cup be totally out of the question? Something like a coke can without the ring pull lid? With a lip around the rim I can't imagine them being any more flimsy than paper cups. The lid and sleeve could be 100% biodegradable since their time of contact with hot liquids is minimal, and the cups themselves could have a 25c/p deposit scheme to dissuade litter/promote collection of discarded…

Wouldn’t this be pretty hot to hold?

Paper cups are hot to hold too - I don't think 0.5mm of paper is a particularly great insulator, at least in my experience. A 100% biodegradable and easily removable (not glued) cardboard sleeve would do the trick like it does with a paper cup I reckon.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#208

Post by wutbrodo » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 4:57 AM UTC

pishpash wrote: post #154

wutbrodo wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretending to be ignorant of externalities doesn't mean they stop existing

The solution is to create better conveniences, not to ban them like luddites and go back to the 18th century. Also, first world problems. Also, despite first world problems, first world has other more important problems that should be solved, like drug addicts, homelessness, and crime, maybe the people's council should focus on that instead of this?

I don't see how any of your comment is relevant to any of mine, which was a pushback against the GP comment's recommendation to focus on local cost/benefit and feign ignorance of externalities

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#209

Post by shard » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 5:11 AM UTC

pg_bot wrote: post #74

zeta0134 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth pointing out that the obvious alternative, reusable to-go cups, need to solve an additional set of challenges: - Must NOT violate sanitization of the work area; cups provided by customers should not pose any health risks to workers or other customers. - Should be durable enough to survive repeated visits - Either the reusable cup must conform to a standard size, baristas need a way to measure liquids consi…

From what I've read the reusables have to be used ~70 times to be more environmentally friendly than the current disposables. I think the easiest win would be designating between sit down and take out customers. Sit down customers could be given porcelain or some other washable container. However this would increase labor costs for businesses so you don't automatically get a free win.

Some coffee shops in Korea now enforce this rule. If you are staying in the coffee shop to drink your coffee, you are given porcelain cups. If you ask for a disposable cup, you are told that you may not drink your coffee in the coffee shop, there may be some legal reason for it.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#210

Post by nonbirithm » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 5:13 AM UTC

alexvaut wrote: post #48

What about returning refillable standard cups ? You return them dirty, starbucks/mac do wash them and everytime you want a coffee you get a clean one. It existed in France for glass bottles in the last century, it's still like that in Belgium for beers (and works very well). I don't see any problem to apply it for coffee. You can even think of little stickers of the brand from where you get your coffee, those sticker…

Sounds kind of like Loop[0]. You get metal containers that you send back when you want a refill, and they sanitize them for you. They seem to be planning to stock more than just food, like mouthwash/hair products.

[0] https://loopstore.com