Canadians love their Tim Hortons coffee, and it would be astounding to get numbers on how many coffees are purchased daily in our country. A few weeks ago, I wrote about my love/hate relationship with Tim Hortons when I found out just how many calories are in a Tim Hortons double double! It was sobering, but still has not stopped my addiction. It has made me be more aware though, and now if I have more than 1 Tim Hortons coffee in a day, the second one is always a regular cream/sugar. Baby steps right?
Tim Hortons cups are treated with a product making them bacteria-ready which takes care of the first step in the process for researchers are the University of Manitober. The cups are put through a shredder and turned into a mulch, then placed in a special bioreactor where bacteria is added (that’s why the cups being bacteria-ready is a bonus). This is the simple explanation of the process which is much more detailed of course!
The researchers have used other coffee cups in the project but it seems Tim Hortons cups perform best (heh, even bacteria like Tim Hortons more than Starbucks!)
The result? Researchers have found that they can generate about 1.3 liters of ethanol from about 100 Tim Hortons cups! Imagine if cups across Canada were used instead of those collected on campus at the University of Manitoba. Wow!
There has been some debate about whether or not Tim Hortons coffee cups are recyclable – it all depends on the capabilities of the recycling program in your city it seems, because of the wax lining of the cup. If the University of Manitoba is onto something here, I hope Tim Hortons invests in the research (as of yet they have not).
Read the full article at Yahoo Canada News here. (Thanks to my friend Tara for spotting a Tim Hortons news story and knowing this addict would be interested to learn more!)
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