Coffee is one of the most desired beverages, and the use of custom printed paper cups is increasing due to the rapid growth of the global coffee market. However, in order to ensure environmental sustainability, industry players are switching to compostable coffee cups. Here we will look at the methods, usage, benefits and different varieties of these eco-friendly coffee cups.

Up until recently, customized PLA paper cups were unfortunately not compostable and this created a lot of confusion about the difference between recycling and composting. Custom biodegradable coffee cups are made with a thin coating of plastic that can’t be easily separated during the recycling process.

Therefore, Industry players such as Starbucks, have spent a significant amount of money researching and developing a more environmentally sustainable coffee cup material. Their new cup has a compostable lining, so it can be composted or recycled using single-stream recycling.

Compostable cups are usually made from polylactic acid (PLA) plastic. PLA is an environmentally and resource-friendly bio-based plastic made from renewable raw materials such as corn-based resin.

Why is polylactic acid (PLA) a better choice?

• Compostable packaging, such as PLA hot cups, has a bioplastic liner. Because this lining is composed of plants, it lowers the consumption of fossil fuels. The product is a polymer with a renewable base.
• PLA packaging composts under conditions established by the European Union standard EN134321. Commercial composting facilities have these requirements. Ensure that your product is collected for commercial composting to ensure that it is successfully processed.
• PLA cups are not designed to degrade in home composting environments and must be collected for commercial composting.This is to ensure they may be processed and degraded with food or organic items.
• Avoiding the landfilling of organic waste eliminates the possibility of the paper component of paper and bio-plastic coffee cups degrading and emitting greenhouse gases such as methane. By ensuring that your PLA goods are successfully collected for commercial composting, you can eliminate the risk of these items emitting greenhouse gases in landfill.