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City councilor says Boston could leapfrog its pinko neighbors and recycle plastic coffee cups
By adamg on Wed, 03/25/2015 - 5:33pm
At-large City Councilor Steve Murphy says Boston could solve a key gap in its recycling program by partnering with companies that say they can now recycle the polystyrene coffee cups that Dunkin' Donuts and their ilk still use.
At today's council meeting, Murphy said doing so would not only put Boston ahead of the "leftist-leaning cities" in the area - Cambridge, Brookline and Arlington - that simply banned the stuff, but could even earn the city some coin. He said that based on initial talks with companies, the city might see $250,000 to $1 million in savings from recycling the plastic rather than simply sending it out with the trash.
Until recently, Murphy said, nobody had figured out how to recycle the material.
The council agreed to Murphy's request for a hearing on the idea.
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Comments
Heavy rains with gusty winds.
How would you get paper art supplies home from the art supply store in heavy rains with gusty winds?
amazon.com
.
what's the motivation?
What fast food container practices are best for costs *to the city* and the environment? Then go from there. (Not: "Dunkin wants to keep using styrofoam cups despite substantial public opposition, and this recycling company would like our business, so how do we make this happen, and what's my cut?")
If there's truly
"substantial public opposition" to Dunkin's use of styrofoam cups, then why do so many people still go to Dunkin's?
Here's a thought - perhaps the City could make abolition of styrofoam cups a condtion of renewing the 8 gazillion licenses each Dunkin's has to renew annualy, or as a condition of approving new Dunkin's locations.
Dunkins is awful: bad
Dunkins is awful: bad employment practices, bad corporate practices, environmental disregard, and their coffee tastes bleh. People really need to stop going there. New England should run on something else.
Shameful and blasphemous. Go
Shameful and blasphemous. Go back to where your Krispy Kremes live.
Murphy is incorrect saying "nobody had figured out how"
Actually, EPS foam (aka Styrofoam™) is crazy easy to recycle, but...it is also so super crazy cheap to make in the first place, and so low density once it's made (ie any reasonable mass of the stuff takes up a HUGE amount of space) that there is almost no margin in recycling it unless one is handling absolutely massive quantities of the stuff.
Ironically, once it's broken down it not only takes up a minute fraction of the space, but it's stable, easy to transport and easy and cheap to re-make into the lightweight foam state.
There are several outfits in New England that make a go of this type of recycling, including one fairly close in Leominster by called ReFoamIt.
Damn straight, EPS is voluminous
I had to break up huge chucks of foam and keep it separated in MORE plastic bags in order to have it accepted for recycling. It weighed very little but boy did it take up excessive amounts of space. The trash are is huge, but anywhere else it would have crowded out all the other trash.
I think he means styrofoam
I think he means styrofoam used in food service. Styrofoam that is used in packaging is pretty clean, and is no trouble to recycle, if you don't mind to deal with it. Styrofoam that would be collected from curbside recycling is likely to be contaminated with food, and a lot of it at that. No one has really wanted to take a stab at that yet.
What really
Bothers me is how unknowingly wasteful and accustomed as a society we have become. Think about everytime you order from a fast food restaurant/take out place and how long you may actually "need" or use that plastic bag. Everytime you go to dunks its custom to receive this oversized paper bag that immediately gets tossed after you've had your breakfast, something that may rarely get recycled.
Food for thought
What kills me is that you can
What kills me is that you can now buy styrofoam "take out" containers in big box stores (made by Hefty or Glad, IIRC). Who are the people who say "Thank God! Finally I have a container to put my leftovers in that can't be recycled, reused, or reheated in a microwave or conventional oven!"
Wise words
Ultimately, thoughtful consumption will do more than legislation (which is not a reason to scorn the latter; sometimes that's the stick that's needed). Saying, "I don't need a bag," or getting your coffee somewhere with better practices (even if they don't have a drive-thru, gasp, I have to get out of my CAR), makes a difference. Unfortunately, it's a little unclear where that place may be. If I go to indy coffee shops, they have "here" cups and tableware that's washable and reusable. I don't know any chains that are like that. Will they pour it into your container instead? Will they MAKE it in your container (like for a cappuccino)?
For God sake Murph
you've been recycling yourself for 30 years.
DART, the giant styrofoam
DART, the giant styrofoam manufacturer conglomo tried to pay NYC to build a styrofoam recycling facility as proof of concept for the US, but they refused. NY considered the styrofoam too contaminated w/ food to make the venture worthwhile long term. Let's see if Murph can find out better.
Love those councilors
"Murphy said, nobody had figured out how to recycle the materials"
Actually, they know exactly how to recycle those materials. Problem is a) takes a lot of energy (money) to recycle the polystyrene, often making it not work it, although technical advances are continuing to drive down the cost and b) the stuff is very light. Recycling is by the ton, and, well, transporting styrene again ends up costing more than you'll get back form the recycling effort. (The second part was a comment form a local recycling facility when asked about Styrene a few years back)
But rather than banning it, can't we just encourage shops and restaurants to switch materials?