turbo_tiger Senior Member Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 31 Location: Portland Expertise: Pro Roaster
Posted Mon Jul 7, 2008, 10:24am Subject: Portland Coffee Shops and Their Waste
I am curious about a few things and any shops that are currently doing them. First, composting your coffee grounds. Portland recently started a city wide composting program, including businesses and residents. Other coffee shop things can be composted also. So is anyone utilizing this program yet? Any coffee shops doing it?
Second, bio-degradable cups, forks, spoons, etc. Who's using them? Any drawbacks? Any weird flavors transferred to the beverage?
Portland is such a "green" city, i am surprised to find out about all of these "green" things portland has to offer to cafes and such, but don't know how many are actually taking advantage of these programs to help reduce waste and every thing that wastefulness snow balls into. Also, if a coffee shop does the "green" sort of things, they can market it to all the portlanders who want to be "green". that way they can feel like they are doing their part to save the earth without actually doing anything. Their dream come true.
mauvaiseloup Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2008 Posts: 1 Location: portland Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Jul 23, 2008, 1:30pm Subject: Re: Portland Coffee Shops and Their Waste
I used to work at a place that used the ecotainers, Trellis Earth bags, corn plastic straws, and potato starch lids. The lids (I think) have been re-tooled, but at that time (a few months ago) they didn't fit quite right and would leak. The corn straws were cold-only because they would melt in hot drinks. Otherwise, it was great stuff to use.
It all depends on where the waste goes after it is used. In the U.S. most waste goes into highly compacted landfills that create an oxygen-free environment. The organisms that are supposed to eat the starch content of these products can't survive, and so the effort is often wasted. For these products to be effective, they must be sorted out and find their way into a biodegradable waste facility that allows them to decompose.
I suggest you talk to your regional waste management districts to see how they handle these products.
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