PLA or PET: Which is best for your takeaway cold brew cups?
No matter the season, cold brew is a top-seller in cafés around the world. Unsurprisingly, the cold brew sector is estimated to grow more than 22% over the next five years. Serving more and more takeaway cold brew cups puts café owners in the predicament of reconciling customers’ growing prioritization of sustainable spending while simultaneously recognising that they prioritise convenience. Plus, with all the caveats and rules around recycling plastics, it can be difficult for cafés to decipher which plastics make for the most eco-friendly takeaway cold brew cups.
Read on to learn the difference between the two best options, PET and PLA, and what to consider when deciding on which is right for your business.
What is PET?
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a recyclable petroleum-based plastic. Recyclable PET cups will have a “1” resin code printed on the bottom, which means they can be tossed in standard recycling bins.
PET is globally one of the most recycled plastics and is more energy-efficient than other plastics. While many mixed recycling programs struggle to process most petroleum-based plastics, PET is near-infinitely recyclable. It can be transformed many times without degrading in quality into new products, like fibers for clothing and food and beverage packaging.
There is high demand for recycled PET in various industries, including the huge PET takeaway coffee cup market that is predicted to grow. PET has many advantages as a material for takeaway cold brew cups; it is light, sturdy, and hygienic and nonreactive for cold beverages.
What is PLA?
Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable or bio-based plastic (bio-plastic) that decomposes after use without polluting the environment. PLA has become the most utilized biopolymer in many industries such as packaging, as it is on par with PET in its suitability for takeaway cups.
PLA is polyester derived from lactic acid, which is obtained from the fermentation of plant sources such as corn or rice starches. PLA can be produced by chemical conversion of these carbohydrates into dextrose, which is then fermented into lactic acid, and followed by various reactions that connect the lactic acid molecules into cohesive filaments. These filaments have similar characteristics to petroleum-based plastic, and can be shaped and colored into a range of products.
PLA is a popular bioplastic in the food and beverage industry because it is toxin-free and has a high tensile strength – meaning it is really strong. PLA offers effective barrier properties, meaning that, similar to PET, PLA is nonreactive with cold beverages.
Why is it important to know about PET and PLA?
Differentiating between various plastics is crucial for sourcing materials responsibility and recycling or composting them correctly. Because over 50 different types of plastic exist – only some that can be recycled – a huge challenge to truly sustainable use of plastic is proper recycling.
The EPA reports that plastics were only recycled at a rate of 8.7% as of 2018. That year, plastic made up 18.5% of all municipal solid waste dumped into landfills. Despite these dreary statistics, the recycling of certain plastics is better; the recycling rate of PET was 29.1%, suggesting that it has an increased chance of contributing to a closed-loop plastic recycling system.
In recent years, bio-plastics have opened up a separate potential closed-loop system. Bio-plastics have become a popular as the most promising materials to replace conventional petroleum-based plastics.
Between the various bio-based and petroleum-based takeaway cold brew cups, consumers are often confused by which cups go in which bins.
The proper recycling of bio-based and petroleum-based plastics is vital
An essential piece of a sustainable closed-loop system is that the plastics are recycled responsibly at recycling facilities. Equally as important is educating consumers on how to correctly recycle takeaway cups. The first requirement for recycling and composting is clean cups; contaminated items are often rejected by recycling facilities. Second, cups must be disposed of in the correct bin.
The key difference in terms of disposal is that PET is recyclable while PLA is compostable.
Compostable materials degrade naturally via biological processes, which yield carbon dioxide, water, methane, inorganic compounds, and biomass. To be labeled compostable, materials must degrade at a rate consistent with the biodegradation of other natural waste in the same composting environment, and leave no visual remnants or unacceptable levels of toxic residue. It is important not to confuse compostable with bio-based: while plastics can be bio-based, not all bio-based materials are compostable.
Recyclable materials can be recovered, processed, and remade into new items while retaining their original qualities. However, they usually do not degrade in the environment safely.
What to consider when sourcing eco-friendly takeaway cold brew cups
When sourcing eco-friendly takeaway coffee cups, cafés must consider materials that have little to no impact on the environment during their entire lifecycle.
“To achieve a circular economy, we need to look at how resources are managed, how products are made and reused, and how the materials are handled afterwards,” Mark Zhou, founder of Cold Brew Pak, explains in an article by Coffee Intelligence.
One tool for assessing these variables is a Life Cycle Assessment, which Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality defines as: “a systematic approach to estimating environmental burdens associated with drawing resources from the Earth, transforming them into usable technical materials, making items from them, distributing the items, using them and ultimately dealing with the remaining solid waste via different waste treatment and recycling activities.”
In the life cycle assessment of takeaway cold brew cups, production of materials and ease of recycling/composting are the main considerations for environmental impact. Cost is another important consideration for cafés looking to source cups economically.
So, should you choose PLA or PET?
Ultimately, both PLA and PET have their benefits – and which one is right for your roastery will depend on your brand.
A principal benefit of PLA is that it is significantly more eco-friendly than its petroleum-based counterpart. While the manufacturing of petroleum-based plastic is estimated to use as much as 200,000 barrels of oil a day in the U.S., PLA is made from renewable plant sources. Furthermore, the production of PLA consumes 25 – 55% less fossil energy than petroleum-based polymers. Switching from petroleum-based to corn-based plastics, for example, could cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 25%.
PLA can be thrown into compost bins at home or cafés to be sent to an industrial composting facility. Once there, most PLA cups can decompose in the presence of bacteria and fungi at a much faster rate than traditional coffee cups.
Currently, PET shows the most promise for a disposable material within a circular system. PET is accepted at most recycling centers, but for PET cups to be truly sustainable, it is essential that PET is recycled properly by consumers and by recycling facilities.
In comparison, PLA cups cannot be placed in traditional recycling bins alongside plastic or paper. Doing so may contaminate the entire waste stream. Instead, PLA cups must be processed by facilities that can compost bio-plastics. Accessing composting facilities may be tricky for companies and customers looking to toss their PLA cups responsibly, and not all composting facilities accept bio-plastics. Composting can simply become too much of a hassle.
“Few cities have public composting services or a composting culture,” says Dr. Dagny Tucker in a Perfect Daily Grind article. She is founder of the reusable mug company, Vessel. “In Europe, most municipal waste ends up in landfills (24%) or is incinerated (27%). Less than half is recycled (31%) and even less composted (17%).
“When a consumer doesn’t or can’t compost their cups, they end up in a landfill.”
In addition, petroleum-based plastics like PET are comparatively more cost-effective than bioplastics like PLA. However, a 2021 survey shows 74% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable packaging. Therefore, when juggling the costs and benefits of sourcing PET or PLA cups, a café’s decision really comes down to knowing your customers’ values, and educating them about your recycling and composting efforts.
The bottom line is that while PLA coffee cups might be more sustainable than PET, it ultimately depends on availability for your brand.
Deciding what works best for your cafe’s takeaway cold brew cups can be daunting. That is why Cold Brew Pak provides its expertise to café on everything you need to know about PLA and PET. Our high-quality and eco-friendly takeaway cold cups can be made from PLA and PET and custom-designed with brand logos and recycling instructions.
