Compostable Coffee Cups

Compostable coffee cups at the campus cafe are made from plant-based PLA plastic lined with a corn starch coating instead of the polyethylene that makes standard paper cups unrecyclable. Switching feels like a practical step even though the infrastructure to actually compost them isn't available in most places. From the outside these cups look identical to regular paper cups, same white exterior, same printed logo. Not being able to tell the difference by looking or touching tells you the material science has caught up to the environmental ambition. Campus composting bins accept them alongside food waste, and the 6-month timeline from cup to compost feels fast enough to be meaningful. Cost increase per cup is about $0.03, which the cafe absorbs rather than passing to the customer. Invisible subsidy means the sustainable choice is also the default choice.