1/20/2011
9:45pm
Environmental Destruction
A recent January 11, 2011 article on Dunkin' Donuts's continued use of styrofoam cups has taken its toll on the environment more than ever, exclaims writer of article, Sarah Parsons. "When it comes to packaging materials, it doesn't get much worse for the environment than styrofoam," she says. "For one, the stuff is polystyrene, a petroleum-based plastic. It takes a lot of energy and resources to make said polystyrene, including dirty, global warming-causing oil. That's a bad rep number one." My question is this: How can a chain industry (such as Dunkin' Donuts) possibly not be aware of such toxics in its own product? Look at Starbucks, for example. Also a chain industry, much like Dunkin' Donuts, but different in that Starbucks has initiated using paper cups taken from 10 percent recycled content. This is a much greener approach to selling coffee/other products. Starbucks is trying to prevent the landfills from clogging up, whereas Dunkin' Donuts is making the landfills clog more and more with each passing day, while they still use styrofoam cups to place their product in. Though Dunkin' Donuts claims the styrofoam cups keep hot contents from hurting customers, and preventing spilling accidents, it doesn't seem worth clogging landfills and not being able to recycle the material that said customers will only use for a small amount of time before they just dump it away. Petitioners are currently in the process of getting Dunkin' Donuts to get rid of the styrofoam cups in the near future. My hope is that the establishment will finally take the hint already.
http://food.change.org/blog/view/america_runs_on_dunkins_environmental_destruction
2 comments:
Foam cups can & are being recycled. Dart Container, the company that makes the Dunkin cups, offers recycling programs. Go to their web site to see how.
An option that Dunkin' Donuts could also consider is giving the customers the choice in front of the counter if they'd like a foam cup or the paper alternative. Some individuals I'm sure would be weary of the weak material that a paper cup would provide in fear of burning ones self. Others would be delighted to use recycled paper cups to directly help the environment. Also, Dunkin' Donuts could provide recycle trash cans conveniently located in the building and advertise such to help their monetary gains. It's a win-win situation.
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