It’s no surprise that the world is wasting billions of dollars on food, throwing out un-recycled trash, and filling landfills with other odds and ends. In fact, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, as of 2012 Americans generated 251 million tons of trash or garbage. (1) Yikes!
There are creative ways to reduce the amount of waste such as source reduction, recycling, or even composting. A few people in the world strive to live an almost complete waste-free lifestyle by the practice of humanure.
We see refuse receptacles at work and around public places. However, even when garbage and recycle bins are available, some folks choose to throw away trash mindlessly by littering. What if there was a way to help reduce waste that goes beyond making sure trash gets into a bin?
Biodegradable cups with seeds and instructions
Sure, you’ve seen biodegradable cups, but have you seen disposable coffee cups embedded with tree and flowering seeds? A California-based business called Reduce. Reuse. Grow. partnered with designer Alex Henige to create a biodegradable coffee cup embedded with planting seeds, and a local map of the best places to plant the cup when you are done drinking. (2,3)
California appears to be one of the best places to test this project. According to Henige, “We have such a diverse ecosystem here that we have the ability to test over 1000 species pretty much all in our backyard with some of the world’s leading soil scientist and eco gurus. This is where we will work out all the details and be able to then start testing other regions to make the process run smoother.” (4)
The funding has been fully provided through the Kickstarter campaign!
How does it work?
In America more than 146 billion cups have been discarded annually from drinking coffee. Even when the cups are being recycled, the paper products “can only be reused two to three times before the fibers are unusable and discarded into local landfills without consumers knowing.” (5)
This ingenious idea that Henige came up with is simple and can be a pleasant experience for the consumer. Not only that, but it will help the environment as well! Here’s how it works:
- The customer buys the coffee, drinks the beverage, then either dumps the cup in a marked bin at the restaurant or takes the cup home.
- Simply unravel the cup. Planting zone are found on the cup itself and planting instructions on the bottom of the cup.
- Soak the unraveled cup in water for about five minutes.
- Plant! (4)
Some may wonder if the heat of the coffee itself can harm the seeds. “We have done testing with a handful of native seeds here in California as related to coffee heat. We have had no problem with their germination due to the fact that they are not coming in direct contact with the coffee itself,” explains Henige. “The liner as well as the paper absorbs a lot of the heat allowing the seeds to not be effected directly.” (4)
If the customer does not want to bring the cups home, then local organizations will take full responsibility for the collection and do the planting themselves. There should be no worries if the cups are thrown into the trash because each cup is designed to biodegrade in 180 days and release seeds and nutrients into local landfills. (2)
The only problem is that the coffee lids are not biodegradable (they are plastic), but the development process of more eco-friendly lids will take place after the cups become a success. (2)
Sources for this article include:
(1) www.epa.gov
(2) elitedaily.com
(3) www.planttrash.com
(4) www.boredpanda.com
(5) www.kickstarter.com
Image source: www.kickstarter.com
Article originally posted on RawFoodWorld.com republished with permission
