I know I give Starbucks a lotta shit, but one place they’ve been trying to do good on is their cup use.

Of course, all coffee shops could be doing better. But the mermaid’s at least taken steps to try and reduce its environmental footprint. In November 2004, the FDA granted the first-ever approval to use recycled content in food packaging for Starbucks cups.

The cups have just 10% post-consumer content. That said, because the FDA’s so weird about recycled food containers, it took Starbucks 8 years of work to get this approved.

That said, I’d like to note that Green Mountain Coffee’s doin’ the mermaid one better, with “a new waterproof membrane made not from plastic but from corn sugar.”

We’re talking biodegradable cups. Green Mountain’s working on rolling these out to convenience stores around the country: “In the future, the cups may also be used by such Green Mountain coffee providers as McDonald’s and Bruegger’s Bagel Bakeries, the company said.”

Most of you greenies are already taking your own cups to coffee shops, yes? Starbucks and Peets’ll give you 10 cents off. Urth Caffe gives you a whole quarter off.

I’ll have you know that my be-stickered cup now gets compliments wherever it goes. It’s a great green convo starter! I got it from Reusable Bags :)

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