30/10/2010
A MESSAGE TO ALL COFFEE LOVERS
KIWIS ARE COFFEE MAD, AND SO WE SHOULD BE. THE COFFEE WE PRODUCE IS SOME OF THE BEST IN THE WORLD. THERE IS HOWEVER A DOWNSIDE ... WITH THE INCREASING POPULARITY OF COFFEE THE AMOUNT OF PACKING WE USE IS INCREASING AS WELL.
This is leading to a big problem... what to do with all of the takeaway coffee
cups and lids we use. You know the old saying —a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips, well coffee is no different— 10 mins in your hand, 500 years in
the environment.
In Australia alone there were over a billion takeaway coffees sold in 2009. 90% of this packaging ended up in waste dumps or as litter in the environment or worse still... in the sea.
Still New Zealand is no better. When it comes to environmentally friendly packaging, although we don't like to admit it, we're a lot worse than most other countries in the developed world.
We've decided enough's enough and we're making a change... very soon our coffee cups and lids will be made with the most ecologically advanced packaging technology in the world. This is called d2w oxo-biodegradable plastic.
Now you're probably completely lost and wondering what all these terms mean!
Well in a nutshell plastic products made out of d2w will degrade and then biodegrade after a specified period of time... usually 1–2 years. These products will then literally disolve on land or sea, in light or in dark, in heat or in cold, leaving no nasty fragments or residue. All that is left is a small earth friendly biomass that acts as plant or soil nutrient.
Now that's environmentally friendly.
For more, visit www.mintcan.com / www.dw2.org
