Jamba Juicing

About a week ago, I left a note on the Jamba Juice website expressing my concerns about the material they use for their cups. I just got a very nice response with the following attachment, which I found to be quite interesting.

Since we opened our first store in 1990, we have strived for Jamba Juice to be an environmentally conscious business. We recycle our cardboard, glass, paper, plastic, and polystyrene when it is possible. However, we have found that in some areas it has been challenging to find recycling, and therefore, one of our most effective actions to protect the environment has been to offer you our reusable mug and a discount every time you bring your mug back.

When using one of our mugs is not possible, we have chosen to use polystyrene cups as the best option for our packaging. Although we originally had reservations about using polystyrene, we did some extensive research comparing polystyrene cups vs. paper cups and have concluded that polystyrene is the best choice for Jamba Juice, our customers, and the environment. Here's what we found out:

+ Paper cups consume 6 times more raw materials.
+ Paper cups consume 36 times more electricity to manufacture.
+ Paper cups consume twice as much cooling water and 58 times more waste water.
+ Paper cups produce 10 to 100 times the amount of residual contaminants in waste water.
+ Paper cups require 33 times more chemicals by weight to manufacture.
+ Paper cups produce 3 times more air pollution emissions to manufacture.
+ Paper cups are typically coated with a non-biodegradable material, making them no more bio-degradable than paper cups in modern landfills.
+ Polystyrene cups do not contain or use any ozone depleting gases in their manufacturing process.
+ Polystyrene cups are in fact more easily recycled than paper cups.

Additionally, to properly serve our cold, fresh, blended-to-order smoothies, we need a cup that can both insulate and seal. Polystyrene cups are significantly more effective in maintaining the quality of our smoothies than paper cups.

It is for these reasons: the overall environmental impact, recyclability, insulating ability, and cost that Jamba Juice has decided to use polystyrene cups for our products. We hope that you find this information as helpful as we did in deciding what packaging choices are best for you.

I've got to look into getting one of those mugs if they have 'em in the Madison store. Alhough financially, maybe I shouldn't dare...