North America’s First Compostable Hot Cup Lid Released
You can now breathe a sigh of relief when you reach for that hot cup lid for your morning coffee. Eco-Products, along with a few other companies that offer compostable packaging products, is releasing the first commercially available compostable hot cup lid in North America this month.
The lid will fit around your hot paper cups of 10, 12, 16, 20 and 24 ounces and can endure up to 220 degree heat. Made from Ingeo biopolymer from NatureWorks LLC, the lid is designed to breakdown within 90 to 120 days in a commercial compost facility. In keep with the company’s commitment to zero waste, the breakthrough is a step towards the first fully renewable hot cup and lid system.
Eco-Products' compostable hot cup lid is designed to breakdown within 90 to 120 days in a commercial compost facility. Photo: Treehugger.com
Eco-Products has submitted the lid to the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), which certified StalkMarket Products’ compostable Ingeo hot cup and lid system earlier this year. Other companies are taking on the compostable packaging challenge as well. Gingerbread Folk, Twinings, KFC and Haigh’s Chocolates recently switched to compostable food packaging.
Solo Cup Company is another notable food packaging company that has committed itself to higher eco-standards. As a part of its partnership with Keep America Beautiful and its Great American Cleanup, Solo will donate its products and educate consumers on how to utilize single-use foodservice products while keeping the Earth in mind.
Traditional hot cup lids and the plastic liner used to coat the paperboard of the cups are made from oil, a nonrenewable resource. According to its site, Eco-Products’ new hot beverage system is made from plant starch material, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with oil consumption. According to Jim Hobbs, director of sales for NatureWorks LLC, this innovation is a great start to reducing America’s dependency on oil.
“NatureWorks is excited about this latest innovation in food service,” Hobbs states. “The new Eco- Products hot cup lid will offer the performance that consumers have come to expect from traditional petroleum based lids yet provide the environmental benefits of GHG (greenhouse gas) reductions and a decline in our dependency on foreign oil.”
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The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
Cheryl D
posted on April 14th, 2009 at 5:30 am
Yeah, but who has a commercial composter near them? We sure don’t. And the stuff just ends up getting thrown away and put in the landfill anyway.
Wendell
posted on April 15th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Thankfully, the number of commercial composting facilities is on the rise – check http://www.findacomposter.com and see where the closest one is to you. Think of how long it took for the recycling infrastructure to finally support (almost) nationwide recycling efforts…
Even if you can’t dispose of your cup and lid in a compost bin, you are still making a good choice by using something that is made from a renewable resource and takes less energy to manufacture.
Plus, it’s a lot cooler than styrofoam!
Paula S
posted on April 15th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Why not just carry your own reusable mug. There are ones that don’t leak (even when held upside down). Reusable is a much better option.
moon
posted on April 22nd, 2009 at 6:46 am
Why don’t we all use a every day stainless steel coffee cup. I think all the coffee places as well as McDonalds should give you a reduced price for not using paper cups with plastic lids they use.
Anton
posted on June 9th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
There is better solution today – biodegradable cups, they don’t require compostable fields, you can through it in a sea!
kevin
posted on June 24th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
The problem with this lid, is if you do not line up the arrow that is on the lid with the seam on the cup, you end up wearing your drink
Phil Abbott
posted on April 23rd, 2010 at 9:10 pm
It is a good alternative to plastic, but I believe a better one is to simply use origami and fold down the lid using the body of the cup.