{"id":23121,"date":"2020-01-12T12:50:05","date_gmt":"2020-01-12T12:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitedbaristas.com\/?p=23121"},"modified":"2022-01-14T10:32:18","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T10:32:18","slug":"looking-at-the-cost-and-benefit-to-lowering-environmental-impacts-through-eliminating-takeout-cups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedbaristas.com\/articles\/think-pieces\/looking-at-the-cost-and-benefit-to-lowering-environmental-impacts-through-eliminating-takeout-cups\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking at the cost and benefit to lowering environmental impacts through eliminating takeout cups"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
<\/i> Coffee's Carbon Footprint<\/a> series<\/div>\n

Learning from the Boston Tea Party experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

United Baristas is currently in the middle of a series on reducing coffee’s carbon footprint<\/a>. The purpose of the series is to gather relevant information from industry and academia, and present it to the coffee community in a way that allows us to take meaningful actions to drastically reduce our carbon emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the weekend Boston Tea Party<\/a> released their latest takeout cup figures following their removal from service in April 2018. Now, almost two years on, it seems timely to look back and learn some lessons as companies across the industry explore ways to lower their carbon footprint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Boston Tea Party experience <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Boston Tea Party eliminated single-use takeout cups from their 22 stores. The backdrop was the Environmental Audit Committee’s recently proposed Latte Levy<\/em><\/a>, which succeeded in drawing attention to the fact that take-out coffee cups commonly aren’t recycled. There were a number of initiatives across industry, and Boston Tea Party’s approach was one of the most dramatic and probably the most publicised. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Achievements and impacts <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using their figures, since 1 June 2018 to today, Boston Tea Party have reduced their takeout cup use by 260,830.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming an average carbon footprint per cup of 11 grams per cup<\/a>, that’s a reduction of almost three tonnes. Because reusable cups require washing between uses (and washing is quite energy intensive), the carbon dioxide reduction between using a single-use, takeout cup and a plastic reusable cup is circa two – three grams depending on the washing machine, the embodied energy of the reusable cup, and the number of times that it is reused. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

United Baristas has previously unpacked some reasonable takeout cup assumptions to explore a life cycle assessment<\/a>, which is the methodology to compare various products, processes and behaviours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using these inputs, Boston Tea Party has reduced their carbon footprint by about one tonne by eliminating single-use take out cups. That is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 grams x 260,830 = 782490 grams
or 782.5 Kg
or 0.8 tonnes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Boston Tea Party instagram<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Coffee Forever<\/p>\r\n\"Coffee\r\n

How can we make specialty coffee more sustainable?<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

Context and worthwhileness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a comparative small quantity of carbon dioxide compared to other aspects of the coffee industry. Here’s three examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n