Skip to main content

FAQ

Better for All Cups

A Cup Designed for Venues & Events

At Better for All our mission is to remake the event cup industry using non-toxic, renewable and biobased materials. Better for All PHBH cups are designed to be collected with food waste, other compostable food service items and plant trimmings then sent to commercial composting facilities for processing into compost.

PHBH can also naturally degrade in landfill environments if commercial composting isn’t available. Designed to work beautifully in crowded closed loop settings like stadiums and festivals, our cups are easy to recognize and sort by spectators and waste management alike, giving facilities a leg up in their pursuit of zero waste.

18oz Cup Design

The Better for All PHBH 18 oz cup is designed for beer, kombucha, cold coffee, and blended drinks with a generous pour, a 98mm opening that snugly fits standard PLA or plastic lids, and a distinctive look so that it stands out in the crowd. Our cup is thin walled to help it compost more quickly, and its unique form makes it easy for waste management to sort.

18oz Cup Color

The Better for All Cup is formed from pure PHBH with no additives or colorants. The innate properties of PHBH combine with our thin cup wall to produce a semi-transparent, semi-opaque cup.  PHBH is a gold-toned material with some variability in appearance like all plant-derived materials.

18 oz Cup Packaging and Carton Specs

We stack our cups and package them in our own Better for All compostable sleeves. There are 10 cups in each sleeve, and 25 sleeves in each carton. Our cartons are made from 100% recycled cardboard.

Can 18 oz Better for All PHBH cups be printed?

Better for All cups can be printed with compostable ink. We do not offer inline printing at our factory currently. Please ask us for third party pricing, specifications, and guidelines.

Where are Better for All cups manufactured?

Better for All cups are made in the USA.

Minimum Order Quantities and Lead Time

Our current 18 oz MOQ is 1 palette, or 36 cases, a total of 9000 cups. Lead time is order size dependent. Contact us with your questions.

Our 9 oz cup is in development. We will have samples on demand in late 2022-early 2023.

Pilot Test Quantities

Interested in trying our 18 oz cups before committing?  Contact us about ordering less than palette size quantities.

Venues

Why 'closed loop' venues?

Closed loop settings are environments like sports arenas, theme parks, festivals, resort hotels and cruises. Many of these events have tight security and control the inflow of food and drink from offsite locations. Because of this, spectators often purchase food and drinks during the event and dispose of the remains as they depart the premises.

After the event, because food and drink leftovers end up in the waste bins with cups and plates, venue management is faced with a sorting challenge-food scraps, recycling, landfill. Recyclables that are soiled with food end up in the landfill waste stream. Compostables can radically reduce loss to landfill and sorting labor by making it possible for dirty plates, food scraps, cups and napkins to comprise a SINGLE waste stream destined for a commercial composting facility.

Why compostable vs. recyclable?

Disposable dishware is rarely recycled after coming into contact with food and drink – estimates put petroleum plastic cup recycling rates at 5%. In the instance of a soiled recyclable container going to landfill, the loss is doubled-organics waste that could have been composted, and recyclables that could have been recycled, all landfilled.

The Better for All PHBH cup is designed to go into the compost bin with food waste and sent to the local composting facility in a single waste stream. Diverting waste from landfill is critical. Diverting food waste from landfill is even more vital, as organic waste in landfill decomposes anaerobically, releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

How does an attendee dispose of a Better for All Event cup?

Ideally attendees place used cups in the compost bin at the event. A section option is for them to take the cup home: Better for All Cups are made from pure nontoxic PHBH, which is high heat tolerant and can be put through the dishwasher a number of times. Because the cup wall is relatively thin (for compostability), eventually Better for All Event cups will become brittle. When this happens, attendees can either home compost the cup, place it in the compost bucket for commercial composting, or put it in the waste bin.

PHBH

What is PHBH?

PHBH, or P-Hydroxy-Benzoate Hydroxylase, is a ‘biopolymer’, or a bioplastic made by living microorganisms. PHBH is a member of the PHA family of biopolymers, unique for their ability to biodegrade almost anywhere, including airless environments like landfill and in water.

Where does PHBH come from?

PHBH is made using fermentation. Special strains of soil microorganisms are blended with seed oils in a warm water bath. The bath is kept at a constant temperature while the microbes consume the oils and metabolize them into the building blocks of PHBH. Using a chemical-free filtration technique, the PHBH is strained, dried, and then pelletized to be used in various manufacturing applications.

End of Life

What is commercial, or industrial composting?

Industrial composters are large scale facilities designed to process daily organics waste from municipal and commercial customers. Haulers deliver food waste, plant trimmings and pre-approved compostable packaging to the facility, where it is strained, ground into uniform pieces, and turned in large piles or hedgerows. The temperature and humidity of each pile is closely monitored to keep conditions optimal for the microorganisms, bacteria, and fungi that can turn organic matter into healthy soil. Better for All PHBH Event cups decompose fastest in a commercial composting environment.

What is anaerobic composting?

Industrial anaerobic composting combines food and agricultural waste with water and special microorganism that thrive in airless environments. Anaerobic composters are enclosed, and often trap the resulting methane gasses for use in place of natural gas. The Better for All PHBH Cups will fully biodegrade in anaerobic composters.

What does home compostable mean?

Home compostable certification is granted to products and packaging that will biodegrade in a backyard compost pile in ambient temperatures. Backyard compost heaps are generally small and much lower in temperature than industrial composters. Better for All PHBH Cups are currently undergoing laboratory testing for Home Compostable Certification.

Landfill

The Better For All cups are intended to be collected and sent to commercial composting facilities, but we understand that not every city and state has this infrastructure in place yet. In those cases, facilities that must divert all organics waste to landfill can rest assured Better for All PHBH Cups will eventually biodegrade in landfill harmlessly.

What does soil biodegradable mean?

The soil biodegradable certification guarantees that a product is completely biodegradable in the soil with no adverse effects on the environment. PHBH is certified Soil Degradable.

What does non-toxic signify?

Processing and performance additives in our everyday packaging and products can place human and environmental health in jeopardy: bisphenol-A, phthalates, dioxins, and PFAS are just a few of the additives showing up in our daily news with links to cancers, human fertility disruption, and accumulation in our bodies, soil and water. At Better for All, we play it super safe and prohibit the use of processing and performance additives in our products and packaging. Further, to pass strict compost standards third party labs must verify that our products are non-toxic.

Why compostable?

Disposable dishware is rarely recycled after coming into contact with food and drink – estimates put petroleum plastic cup recycling rates at around 5%. Traditional plastic disposable dishware that is not recycled is typically either incinerated or is sent to the local landfill, where it will take hundreds of years to degrade, and will release harmful toxins into adjacent soil and water.

Better for All PHBH cups, part of a growing circular materials economy, are fully compostable and non-toxic in commercial aerobic and anaerobic composting systems. Place your cup in the compost bin with your food waste as you leave the game, and your venue’s waste management entity can send the entire contents of the bin to the local composting facility. If local commercial composting facilities have not yet been established, Better for All PHBH cups will naturally degrade in landfill without releasing harmful toxins. Venues can offer a tangible example of their sustainable efforts and deepen customer engagement, consumers can participate in positive change, and the environment benefits from fewer toxins and less waste today. Win-win-win.

Better for All Downloads

Find product information, certifications, testing, and other downloadable resources here. For more information please contact us.

Events

26
Jun

Green Sports Alliance Summit

Come visit our tradeshow booth at the Green Sports Alliance 12th Annual Summit at Seattle Center...
  • Climate Pledge Arena, 334 1st Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109, USA View on Map
    2023-06-26
    All Day Event
    11
    Sep

    PACK EXPO 2023 Vegas

    Come see us at the Kaneka BioPolymers Booth at the PACK EXPO tradeshow in Vegas...
  • Las Vegas Convention Center 3150 Paradise Rd. Las Vegas, Nevada 89109 View on Map
    2023-09-11
    All Day Event
    21
    Sep

    Natural Products Expo East Booth 3313

    Come see us at Booth 3313 in the Lifestyle Section of Expo East!
  • Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA View on Map
    2023-09-21
    All Day Event
    12
    Mar

    Natural Products Expo West #2

    Come visit Better for All at Booth #2979!
  • Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W Katella Ave, Anaheim, CA 92802, USA View on Map
    2024-03-12
    All Day Event