Coke Solutions

This story begins with a challenge. It ends in the compost heap. Fortunately, that's the desired destination for the Coca-Cola® ecotainer® Compostable Paper Cup, which was inspired by a group of environmentally conscious University of Washington (UW) students.

"The Pacific Northwest has a unique mixture of green business practices, community organizations and environmental awareness, placing the UW at the epicenter of a sustainable regional culture," says Micheal J. Meyering manager of the University of Washington Department of Housing and Food Services. It's the kind of place where the university president writes his own environmental blog, which faculty, staff and students receive with enthusiasm.

Yet in 2006 huge bins of garbage wrapped in black sacks were hauled to regional landfills each week. Inside those bags: more than 3 million polystyrene knives, forks and spoons, along with food scraps, takeout containers and cups -- refuse generated each year by on-campus dining operations.

"We could no longer ignore the amount of waste we were creating," says Meyering. So when representatives from a student environmental organization approached administrators and challenged them to change, foodservice management rallied around the idea. The credo became "striving for zero waste through composting." Meyering began a process that involved working with suppliers to convert to compostable supplies, as well as outfitting each dining facility to sort and capture the waste.

In February 2007 Meyering and an entourage of managers and consultants toured a large dining facility inside a residence hall. While the campus kitchens had been composting waste for three years and there was already an arrangement with a local composting resource, moving the operation to the front of the house involved a completely new strategy. The scope was enormous. The university is home to 40,000 students. The foodservice operation encompasses 36 outlets, serving 30,000 customers daily.

The location they toured, Eleven 01 Café, had been selected as a pilot site. Recently renovated, the setting was immaculate. The new approach required installing a resource recovery area to replace traditional refuse containers - in other words, they needed bins to separate organic materials, recyclables and solid waste. The beautifully appointed cafeteria was about to be sacrificed for a greater cause: reducing the campus' environmental impact.

As it turned out, the cabinetry designed for traditional trash was fairly easily modified for the new purpose. The more difficult challenge was identifying multiple supplier sources for materials that would perform well at the table and break down easily in the compost pile. Early attempts resulted in amusing incidents. For example, one prototype spoon wouldn't hold up to heat. Students who let the implement rest in a hot bowl of soup would discover the tableware had "softened" before they could use it.

Through trial and error and a lot of research, the supply lineup was completed with one exception: The Coca-Cola fountain cup was coated with a material that did not break down in composting systems. Meyering approached his Coke representative seeking a solution.

"The Coca-Cola Company stepped up to the plate," reports Meyering. Perhaps better stated, the Company stepped up to the cup. Following an intensive development process with manufacturer International Paper, the Coca-Cola ecotainer Compostable Paper Cold Cup debuted on the UW campus in late 2008. It was an instant hit with diners, boosting profitable fountain sales by about 15% as students learned about the environmental advantages of the vessel.

Education has played a crucial role in the program's initial -- and ongoing -- success. Diners need to understand the value of composting, says Meyering, as well as how to properly sort their trash to prevent contaminating compost. Unsuitable material should be deposited in recycling bins or in the ever-shrinking solid waste containers. Lids, for example, are not yet compostable, although a solution is expected. Among the educational tactics the UW employs:

• Signage and posters at each dining facility's resource recovery area, clearly indicating how guests should dispose of anything remaining on their tray.
• Digital menu boards displaying the cup.
• The cup itself is printed with pertinent information about sustainability, composting and its biodegradable properties.
• Information posted on the Housing and Food Services website.
• Updates distributed in an online newsletter to students residing in dorms indicating how much compostable material is collected each month, to demonstrate the collective impact of participation.
• Outreach programs on campus and in the community.

The effort has produced significant results. During the first year of the program, the UW diverted 500 tons of waste from landfills to the composting facility. This year they expect to up that figure. Among the treasures at the heap: some 150,000 ecotainer Coca-Cola cups. For the UW and the environment, that decomposing pile is a sign of remarkable progress.