Go Green with VitaCup and Reduce Coffee's Footprint

You won't believe the most expensive part of your favorite daily coffee. Can you guess?

The cup. Wait, what?

According to a study by retail analyst Allegra Strategies*, the cup costs more than the coffee that goes into it. If the drink costs $3.65, the cost for the cup, sleeve, and lid is 32¢, while the cost of the coffee beans is a mere 16¢. Not including the 138 billion straws and single use stirrers that are thrown away right after.

On average, most chain coffee costs between $3 - $6 depending on size, ingredients (milk, syrups, etc), and chain establishment.

Let’s assume a $5 coffee habit per day, five times a week. That’s $25 a week and $1300 a year! Even if you only indulge twice a week, that is still $520 a year! Comparatively, if you have a VitaCup pod every day of the week, that’s $11 a week or less and your full week of coffee will run around the same as if you buy at a cafe two days a week! More coffee, less cost with VitaCup. 

But at least the paper cup is recyclable, right?

Not quite. While paper cups from coffee giants seem like the "green" choice, they are hardly ever recycled due to the extra plastic lining called polyethylene. Starbucks goes through over 8 million cups a day, and though these cups are paper, 50 billion of these "recycled" cups end up in US landfills – enough that if they stack on top of each other, they will go to the moon and back about five times. Americans are throwing away $16 billion of paper cups and creating 1.5 billion pounds of waste from the coffee habit. That’s the weight of the Empire State Building twice over in waste every year!

While paper and plastic are both individually recycled, the combination of both in the standard lined coffee cup cannot be separated out at a standard receding mill. Only specialty recycling mills can separate the two without getting jammed.

Other Components.

When people order coffee pods outside of the home, they tend to use other single-served items with extra packaging too. This includes single use sweeteners, stirrers, and creamers. In addition, the use of portability conveniences like drink holders and sleeves can increase the amount of material needed for all of our to-go orders. Remember, the first step in helping cut waste is reducing. If we reduce waste up front, we help cut a lot of long term impact to the environment!

Enter VitaCup.

Our pods are #5 BPA-free plastic, which means they are food grade safe and fully recyclable. They are a smaller ecological footprint than to-go paper cups, and cost less as well. Not to mention the awesome value of essential vitamins in each pod!

With fully recyclable plastic, a world of functional products await. Recyclable plastics give us a chance to re-use them and re-purpose them into new functions. Door handles, clocks, water bottles, smartphone cases, the sky is the limit! Check out the Precious Plastic project who is inspiring us by finding to find new, ingenious ways to reuse plastic! 

Not only will your wallet be a little thicker with VitaCup - the planet will thank you too! Join up with VitaCup as we try to do a bit extra and Reduce, Reuse, Recycle this new year! Moreover, you will get energy from your vitamins while you do it!