The Most Riveting Account of a Paper Product You'll Ever Read

If it’s got a name that rhymes with Trixie, it’s got to be a barrel of laughs, right? For the water fountain patrons on trains and in schools who were the first to drink from them back in the 19-oughts, paper cups were that—and more. In fact, they were a barrel of germ free water, since the custom until that point was for everyone to drink from one communal cup or glass. Good thing no one ever got the flu back then! 

Lawrence Luellen invented an individual, single-serve, single-use cup for schoolchildren, Lacakwanna Railroad workers, and regular thirsty people, and his business rode the wave of germ-fighting governments everywhere.

Great idea! Especially in the early twentieth century when the average American family could only afford 1 sock per child and had to rent out some kids that they couldn’t feed (that first anecdote is pretend; the second one is probably real). But now, in the post-Henry Ford, current-Made In China era, almost every family can own one cup for each member! And, in most cases, it’s actually less expensive to buy a nice set of drinking glasses then to buy new cups every month. (Call it $25 for a set of 8 glasses vs. $5 a month times 12 months a year = $60 annually.)

When do Dixie cups have their place? Perhaps at family functions or children’s parties (kids break things!). But bathroom sinks, kitchen tables, water coolers, construction sites, and international conventions are not those places. Why? I’ll tell you. Reason number A: they’re expensive. A reusable water bottle can be had for as little as $8 these days. A pack of paper cups can be $8 each time. Reason number B: I don’t even want to tell you what kind of hoodlums these tiny cups are to the environment. But that’s my job so I’ll do it anyway.

-In 2006, over 6.5 billion trees were cut down to make 16 billion paper cups.
-Oh so you think that paper cups are better because you don’t need to waste water washing them? Wrong. Making those 16 billion cups required 4 billion gallons of water.
-Total waste = 253 million pounds.  (And I don’t want that in my backyard!)

Here’s the rub: paper cups were invented to solve a public health crisis. Now they’re causing one.