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Coffee Cups Are Next

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Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#241

Post by zone411 »

chrisco255 wrote: post #195
zone411 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://sustainability.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/... Styrofoam for single-use products has been banned in NYC already.

Can you produce a less fanatical source? This PDF spuriously links styrofoam to Parkinson's disease. As I've seen vaccinations blamed for autism, I'm going to disregard this source as reliable.

You're right, not a good source. Google does a poor job of bringing up unbiased soruces. A better term to search for is expanded polystyrene foam. Here are some sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33334994

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/aug/27...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12299-2

The EU has decided to ban throwaway polystyrene foam but I don't know if this counts for much as I don't know how much science was taken into account. There will be a comprehensive risk assessment by the EPA: https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-t....

My worry is when packaging EPS breaks down into tiny particles that could be inhaled. This cannot be great.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#242

Post by omegabravo »

stevenjohns wrote: post #46
mattigames wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you don't know but people around the world like to point to SF as examples of places that prohibited plastic bottles, maybe for locals the real issues are the ones you mention but in the big picture to stop using one-time plastics and similar pollutants are the real issues.

As an Australian, I have images of homelessness whenever SF is mentioned. I didn't even know that SF prohibited plastic bottles and I've never heard anyone say that. I'd also take a position that homelessness is the real issue in SF and not disposable coffee cup usage. EDIT: reading about the plastic bottle ban in SF[0], it appears that it's very limited > The new regulations prohibit the sale of plastic bottles at e…

> homelessness is the real issue in SF and not disposable coffee cup usage.

We can work on improving both problems as the same time quite easily.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#243

Post by scotty79 »

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…

My office had a lot of ceramic cups that were taken by employees from the cabinet, used and left wherever in the kitchenette.

There was one dedicated employee whose main job was to gather the cups and put them in the dishwasher and after they are cleaned, put them back in the cabinet. Dishwasher ran constantly and that employee kept kitchenette neat in between of cup handling. I think there were even two dishwashers so one can be loaded while the other is working.

The system was pretty much perfect. If people forgot to bring their cups back to kitchenette they were gathered by the cleaners at the end of the day from employees desks.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#244

Post by ginko »

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?

We got two dishwashers in each office kitchen so one can get filled while the other's in operation.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#245

Post by CannisterFlux »

manicdee wrote: post #185
CoolGuySteve wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't we already solve this with recyclable glass and deposits? Beer bottles at least have worked this way my whole life.

Plot twist: the glass is just crushed and dumped, very little actually gets recycled. Everyone uses different glass for their bottles and you can’t easily separate it once it’s mixed (either as whole bottles, shards of broken bottles, or molten glass).

Unlike plastics, recycling glass does seem to be viable. Even mixed glass can be recycled into other products if it isn't good enough for new bottles. This industry site says that glass recycling in Europe is at 74% https://feve.org/recyclingstats2018/

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#246

Post by wongarsu »

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?

For I don't know how bigger companies handle the issue, but the plan for scaling up seems obvious: have one person responsible for the dishwashers of each floor (or whatever division seems reasonable).

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#247

Post by mirimir »

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?

I consulted with a ~small law firm that had staff for that. They setup food and beverages for meetings and depositions, kept the kitchen spaces orderly, and so on.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#248

Post by chopin »

cf498 wrote: post #229
marcus_holmes wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought mulled red wine (gluewine sp?) in a christmas market in Germany this last winter. They sell you a proper coffee-type-mug to drink it from, for 6 euros (about US$7), which you can return when you're done and they'll refund you. I kept mine, it's a nice souvenir of Cologne and I drink my coffee from it every morning :) If you had to pay, say $10 for a proper coffee mug to have your take-away coffee in, but the…

They most of the time dont actually sell those mugs, the 6€ are a deposit.

Yeah, but the deposit is higher than the retail price.

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#249

Post by defterGoose »

DangitBobby wrote: post #187
zikzak wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shopping bags need to be washed, too. Meat juices, being set down on dirty surfaces (bus stop, muddy driveway), left for a week in a house with pests or vermin, etc. Most people are not going to want to reuse someone else's reusable bag without laundering.

The crux of all of these issues is that we want the benefits of containers without the consequences. Well, we're learning that you have to deal with it at some point, be it the occasional washing or mountains of trash. People are going to have to just suck it up about reusing things. As long as it's safe, people's feelings about perceived ickiness will go away once the practice is normalized. And eventually we won't…

This soooooo much. 'But Ma Freedoms™!?!?'

Re: Coffee Cups Are Next

#250

Post by jspash »

SllX wrote: post #89
pg_bot wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Plenty of cafés already have coffee mugs and glasses. I’m drinking a cup of coffee from a Homer Laughlin mug warmed atop the espresso machine at a small mom and pop establishment right now. When I’m done with it, it will go into a bus bin a few feet away and washed by the staff here whenever they’re not too busy to do a load of dishes. If I had brought my own cup, it would have been a 10¢ discount but to be honest, t…

Surely the 10¢ discount should be for the people who _don't_ bring their own cup.

But since it's a small shop I assume the 10¢ "fee" is to subsidise the dishwashing labour.

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