The humble paper coffee cup is a useful container of one of the world’s most loved beverage. While most people just toss it in trash bins after use, have you ever wondered how it was produced, and what happened to it after, let’s say, you abandon it?
   
Paper cups are made from a combination of new paper and recycled paper. Inside, they are lined with plastic or wax so that the liquid is prevented from spilling or from soaking the paper. After a single use, the paper coffee cup is disposed or recycled.

According to studies, it is not clear if the paper cup or the plastic cup shows more detrimental environmental effects. A 16 ounce paper coffee cup has 1/4  pounds carbon dioxide emissions which are obtained from use of paper from trees cut, production as well as shipping. The same size of paper cup results to a loss of potential natural habitat of .93 square feet. In 2006, over 6.5 million trees were used for making 16 biollion of cups used in the United States. Furthermore, the production consumed 4 billion gallons water which resulted to 253 million pounds waste generated.

If you think that the paper cup is 100% recycled and you can go on with the use and dispose routine, you are wrong. A small percent of recycled paper is used in making the cups because of concerns with health and safety. It is done in order to minimize the instances of contamination. Also, paper cups are difficult to degrade because of the plastic coating and this is again a difficult situation for the environment. The PE is a coating which is based on petroleum and PE coated paper cups are difficult to degrade. PLA on the other hand makes the cup easier to decompose. Paper cups in the landfill usually do not decompose or if they do, they release methane.

Before, you are probably unconscious of the contribution of a simple coffee paper cup in polluting the environment and depleting the forests of natural resources. And after knowing this, there are numerous ways where you can help conserve nature. When you are in the office, bring with you a personalized coffee mug. By doing this, your plastic coffee cup usage will be minimized. It may seem like a small contribution but your yearly contribution will be of a big help to the environment. Also, ask your officemates to do the same. Afterall, personalized coffee mugs are even better than paper cups.