Hot Drink Debate: Paper or Plastic?
More Fast-Food Chains Switch to Paper Cups, Citing the Environment; Foam Has Defenders
By
Laura Stevens
Follow
Updated April 10, 2014 8:22 pm ET
Starbucks is among the restaurant chains that have been serving drinks in paper cups for years. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Stephanie Falk and her husband like smoothies from Jamba Juice. But the San Diego-based couple boycotted the chain for several months last year because it served its drinks in plastic-foam cups.
“It’s the biodegradable factor. There’s no excuse. Everybody knows better,” said Ms. Falk, who like her husband is a wedding photographer.
Now, though, Jamba Juice Co. and several other food chains are starting to serve the same drinks in paper cups. Ms. Falk is a fan; her drink stays just as cold in Jamba Juice’s new doubled-walled paper cup, she said.
The paper industry likes it a lot too. Production of white copy paper and other forms of “uncoated” paper has fallen about 38% since 1999, while demand for paper cups is growing as much as 5% a year, according to industry analysts. Environmental concerns from consumers and new bans on plastic foam in more U.S. cities are prompting food chains to make a switch.
Jamba Juice said last year it would adopt paper cups for its smoothies and other cold drinks “to improve our environmental footprint.” McDonald’s Corp. is replacing plastic-foam cups with McCafe paper cups at all 14,000 McCafes across the country. The company says it is trying to be more environmentally conscious and cut costs on trash. Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. has said it is testing paper cups.
These companies join Starbucks Corp. and some other chains that have been using paper cups for years. Production of paper used to make cups has risen about 16% over the past five years in the U.S., according to industry group American Forest and Paper Association.
Hoping to take advantage of the growth in demand, International Paper Inc. IP -0.94%decrease; red down pointing triangle plans to double the size of a paper-cup manufacturing facility it runs in Kenton, Ohio. The company is coming up with new cup designs—like one already in production that is fully biodegradable with a plant-based lining—and aggressively marketing the benefits of paper to potential customers.
Paper cup and plate production volume is equivalent to about a quarter of the volume of the U.S. copy-paper market, according to consulting firm Fisher International Inc., which specializes in data on the pulp and paper industry.
Still, “It seems like a moment in time where the big brands are choosing to take a public position for sustainability,” said Michael Lenihan, director of sales and customer relations at International Paper. Food businesses “are now recognizing it as a brand opportunity on a much broader scope.”
Environmental advocates say paper is easier on the environment than plastic foam because the latter tends to break up in landfills and then is mistaken by animals for food. Plastic foam is difficult to recycle unless it is kept clean and separated from other types of plastics—so many plants in the U.S. don’t take it. It isn’t biodegradable.
Such worries led San Francisco in 2007 and Seattle in 2009 to ban plastic foam, instead requiring food vendors to provide compostable or recyclable to-go containers. Other West Coast cities have followed suit, and New York’s City Council voted to ban plastic-foam containers in December unless the industry can prove it is recyclable.
“Customers are still trying to figure out how prevalent this is going to become,” says Alec Frisch, vice president and general manager of Georgia-Pacific LLC’s beverage category, which produces a range of paper cups, including double-walled and plastic-coated paper cups.
The plastic-foam industry disputes the notion that foam is less environmentally friendly, chalking it up to misinformation. “I think there are a lot of misconceptions around polystyrene foam versus paper,” said Keith Christman, managing director for plastics markets at American Chemistry Council, which represents the industry. Foam is “composed 95% out of air, so you use less material in the first place making it.” That also results in less energy use and less bulk waste, he added.
A survey commissioned by the ACC shows that in the 50 biggest U.S. cities, about 16% of the population is able to recycle food-service items made out of foam, compared with about 10% for paper.
Indeed, paper cups aren’t as environmentally friendly as they seem. Only about 11% of recycling plants in the U.S. currently can recycle them, according to the American Forest and Paper Association, because they are typically coated in plastic or have beverage residue. The lack of an “easily recyclable cup designed for hot beverages” is one reason Dunkin’ Brands is still weighing whether to switch to paper, Karen Raskopf, chief communications officer, said.
“At this point, we don’t know if our end solution will be paper or another material,” she added.
Paper cups are slightly more expensive than foam, usually by a couple cents. Extras like double walls for insulation or plant-based lining to make it compostable add to the price.
McDonald’s has been using double-walled paper cups—which have a small pocket of air between them to increase insulation—at about 2,000 restaurants along the West Coast since 2012. Now it is expanding into the Midwest and parts of the East Coast, says Ian Olson, director of sustainability.
While the paper cup is more expensive, McDonald’s says it will make up the difference in the trash. Most of the chain’s waste is paper-based—think wraps, fry cartons and Big Mac boxes—so paper cups can go into the same trash bin, and eventually into recycling bins.
The main challenge for food companies is to find a cup that functions as well as plastic foam and doesn’t cost the consumer more, said Bonnie Riggs, a restaurant industry analyst with consumer market research firm NPD Group. “I think it really doesn’t matter if it keeps everything hot and keeps everything cold and consumers don’t have to pay extra for it,” she said.
Assignment Expectations:
This assignment is worth 20 points. You have one submission attempt. After reading the WSJ article (linked below), respond to the question(s) that follow. The required length for responses is a minimum of 200 words per question. Upload your submission as a Word Doc or readable PDF (scanned-in documents will not be accepted). Submissions will be checked using UniCheck Plagiarism checker. Feel free to bring in perspectives from outside sources, but remember to properly cite them by including a link at the bottom of your submission.
Hot Drink Debate: Paper or Plastic?Links to an external site.
1. Discuss the role of a business, the natural world, the government, and the company’s customers. Do companies make environmentally friendly decisions on their own? How are these relationships playing out in the fast food businesses described in the article? Feel free to include some things you learned from the textbook.
2. Paper is a bit more expensive than polystyrene foam, but it looks like the environmentally friendly choice. Tell whether you think paper is the right way to go and why. Remember that every additional supply cost is multiplied by thousands upon thousands of servings. Can a company be truly green and also maintain profitability?
