Did you know in United States we throw away 50 billion disposable coffee cups every year? And we can’t talk about the negative effects in the planet without talking about the coronavirus pandemic and the need for takeaway containers. It takes about 1-3 years for official data from environmental agencies to come out, but it is estimated that the presence of single-use plastic in landfills is expected to rise about 47% as a result of the pandemic. 50 billion disposable cups per year is already 95,000 cups per minute. That’s Dog Sh*t! Pardon our French.
At Urbana, we want to be a part of the solution, not the problem. In the last few years we have been making strides to making our biggest stakeholder, mother nature, happy. We started small – eliminating plastic straws, then we printed carbon neutral hot cups, and using corn starch for our cold cups instead of plastic. While this has all been worth it, it has been quite challenging on the logistical side to keep up with inventory shortages and on the financial side to keep up with price increases. At the end, we think we’ve saved a few turtles, but we are itching for more.
In 2020, we bought a Bellwether roaster, which is the first commercial zero-emission, ventless, smokeless electric roaster. We roast roughly 27,000lbs of coffee annually. Then, our next giant hurdle was eco-friendly disposable cups, and coffee bags in the consistent bases. While the paper on the outside of our hot cups may have been recyclable, the inside was still made of a non-environmentally friendly plastic. After some research, we have now found a different source to make Urbana cups and lids completely free of single-use plastic and compostable! And one of the best parts is that they’re local. Now, get excited, because this is one of the most riveting components: instead of single-use plastic or even cornstarch (which we love and appreciate), all of Urbana’s cups and lids, both hot and iced, will be made of sugarcane! It sounds yummy, but don’t eat it – just compost it.
Last year, you beautiful people bought over twelve thousand bags of coffee from us. Thank you for that! Unfortunately, our bags were the least recyclable item we sold, being made of foil and plastic. The Urbana team took a look at the numbers and decided that we have to work harder to be a part of the solution, not the problem. So we took plastic out of our retail coffee bags. Completely. No, we are not sh*tting you. Our new bags will be made from recycled paper on the outside and rice paper on the inside. By the end of the Spring 2022, Urbana will be around 95% free of single-use plastic, because “mo’ plastic, mo’ problems.”
We all know by now that businesses ought to be responsible about their contribution to world pollution and find ways to be sustainable. Customers vote with their dollars, supporting the businesses that support a better future for everyone. While there isn’t a silver bullet for Urbana’s plastic pollution, there are some steps we can take that will benefit us all. Don’t take our word for it – just look in the distance at the happy turtle family waving to you. And… is that a unicorn?
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