Three Kalamazoo-area companies team up to compost cups

Three Kalamazoo-area companies have cups in common.

Kalamazoo-based Fabri-Kal makes the cups, Bell's Eccentric Cafe serves up its brew in them, and Mulder's Landscape Supplies, Inc., mulches them after they have been used.

Greenware, made by Fabri-Kal, are the cups.

The cold drink cups and lids are made entirely from plants -- not petroleum. The resources used in the polymer that goes into the cups can be replenished naturally within one year. Made from a biopolymer, the Greenware product line is 100 percent compostable in municipal or industrial facilities.

Greenware products require a specific temperature and level of humidity to compost correctly, which is why they are certified by the Biodegradable Plastics Institute, and meet international standards for composting.

Since Southwest Michigan does not have a composting facility operated by a municipality the three companies teamed up to make sure the cups would be properly returned to the earth. Fabri-Kal's Vice President of Marketing John Kittredge calls this the cradle-to-cradle approach and says such local efforts are "smart, simple and truly beneficial economically, socially and environmentally."

Mulder's handles the composting of leaves and yard waste for the city of Kalamazoo and has the capability to compost the Greenware cups alongside other natural waste.

"The Greenware cups are amazing to work with because they are 100 percent compostable," says Art Mulder, president and owner of the landscape supplies company. "We mix them in our leaf compost, and the compost in turn is sold and used in gardens throughout the Kalamazoo area."

Bell's Eccentric Cafe has reduced its trash output 80 percent by volume, just by diverting their Greenware cups from landfill, says Evan Meffert, Sustainability Coordinator at Bell's Brewery.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Kate Kirkpatrick, Fabri-Kal