Orange County company proposes alternative to single-use cup ban
When Will Lorenzi heard about a bill that would ban single-use cups at chain restaurants in California, the Orange County resident’s first thought was that there’s another way to protect the environment without losing the convenience to which the public has gotten accustomed.
And Lorenzi would know. As president and founder of Smart Planet Technologies, he has helped popularize EarthCoating, which replaces the plastic that often lines paper cups, to create a “truly recyclable” product called reCUP.
As the Australian documentary “War on Waste” noted, these products are technically recyclable, but if the plastic isn’t removed, it prevents the paper from being recycled.
That conundrum is part of what inspired Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encintas) to introduce Senate Bill 1167. Her office specifically pointed out the “difficult to recycle” nature of these cups when announcing the bill.
But what if they weren’t difficult to recycle? Would banning single-use cups still be the best option? Lorenzi doesn’t think so.
“We’re fortunate here that we have a technology innovation that basically takes these difficult-to-recycle materials and makes them into materials that are as easy to recycle as ordinary paper,” Lorenzi said.
Bill would ban disposable cups at some restaurants
The key is EarthCoating’s use of minerals in the cup lining, which reduces by about half the amount of plastic required but also makes the lining behave more like a clay than a plastic, an important distinction because clay materials on cups are already compatible with the paper recycling systems widely available today.
“Certainly, if there is no recyclable solution … it creates waste. That’s a longstanding problem. Given that, I totally appreciate what the bill is doing, saying ‘Let’s stop this.’ But that decision is made absent knowing that there’s a better solution, which is to make the materials recyclable,” Lorenzi said.
Lorenzi said he’s aware that it will take buy-in from businesses to make EarthCoating a viable replacement for the current plastic industry standard, but Smart Planet Technologies and manufacturing partners are already on their way. EarthCoating is already in use in Australia and on United Airlines flights, totaling about 2.5 billion cups created using the resin so far.
Lorenzi has been in contact with Blakespear’s office to suggest EarthCoating as an alternative to a ban on single-use cups.
“Sen. Blakespear is aware of the product and continues to explore the best way to reduce plastic and paper waste coming from restaurants,” said Andrew LaMar, the senator’s communications director.
The O.C. businessman said he doesn’t need Blakespear to throw out her proposal, just to give EarthCoating a chance to catch on. If, after a set amount of time, restaurants haven’t sufficiently reduced their waste, reusables can then be imposed.
Either way, the legislation achieves its goal, Lorenzi said.
“It’s such a logical solution,” he said. “I wish we could solve climate change this easily.”
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