Sustainable Manufacturing ME290I:

Sustainability Challenge #2
Matt Zebiak
February 4, 2016

Prompt

Estimate how many uses a reusable cup/mug/bottle requires before it becomes a sustainable product. Well frame our analysis of this problem using the triple
bottom line, and address how many uses it will take to recoup the economic, social, and
environmental costs of using a reusable cup instead of its alternatives. The maximum number of these predicted break-even uses will represent the total uses required to achieve
sustainability in all three of these distinct areas. Well use the reusable coffee cup as an
illustrative example for this exercise.

1.1

Economic Costs

In essence, we can compute the economic break-even point for reusable mugs by comparing
the cost of brewing coffee at home and taking it to go with the cost of buying each cup
in the store. To keep the costs as fair and consistent as possible, well compare the cost
of brewing Starbucks brand coffee at home in a Starbucks reusable mug, as this process is
the most direct substitute for buying Starbucks coffee in the store.
We can assume that their average-quality reusable coffee mug costs about $25-30. Well
assume that a coffee drinker has the resources to brew coffee at home (a typical French
press costs $30, a drip coffee machine may be more, north of $50). Well ignore, for this
analysis, the people with fancy $1000+ coffee machines. Thus, well assume the total cost
of an at-home brewing system & travel mug is about $70 up-front. Starbucks sells their
Pike Place coffee for $12/lb, and this bag makes about 40 cups of coffee. A cup of the same
coffee in the store is about $3. Thus, setting:
70 + (12/40)x = 3x...
we find that after 22 cups of coffee, the reusable cup and brewing system has paid for
itself. Thus, its reasonable to assume that independent of the cost of the brewing system,
it takes only about 10 uses to recoup the cost of the reusable mug.
1

1.2

Social Costs

There are very few obvious social costs to buying a reusable mug. Many would argue,
in fact, that buyers enjoy the social benefit of appearing to care for the environment. As
long as working conditions in the manufacturing facilities are humane, there are no obvious
social costs to worry about (the social cost of buying coffee, by contrast, is a much more
contentious and complex topic).

1.3

Environmental Costs

Of course, the major worry with buying resuable mugs is that the embedded energy is much
higher than in disposable cups, so well need to spread this larger energy input and environmental impact over many more uses before the environmental cost is lower than that
of single-use products. A typical mug might contain about 250g of plastics, and an insulating layer of air. It likely has at least two parts that need to be manufactured separately,
assembled, and shipped. To compute the environmental impact, well backtrack from the
purchase price, assuming (in the worst case) about a 400% markup from production costs.
Production Costs & Breakdown The price to produce each mug, in the worst case,
is therefore about $6. Lets assume 20% is down to raw materials, about $1.20. Assuming
most of the material price is plastic (which is made from crude oil, at $31.72/bbl) the
average reusable bottle requires the extraction about 0.037 bbl (barrels) of oil. Multiplying
this figure by the carbon emissions intensity of crude oil (430 kg CO2 /bbl estimated by the
EPA) we find that about 16 kg of CO2 is released per bottle. Now, we can assume that
60% of the cost is due to electricity to power the refining, manufacturing, and assmebly
processes, or about $3.60/bottle. This equates to about 30 kWh of electricity, using the
average $0.12/kWh for electricity in the U.S. Mutliplying this by the emissions intensity
for electricity gives 21.68 kg CO2 emitted. The final 20%, we can assume, is down to
transportation costs (gasoline). We can equate this $1.20 with about 0.5 gallons of gasoline,
which results in 4.44 kg of CO2 emissions. In total, then, the impact of creating the cup
on CO2 emissions (the largest, but not the only important emission in plastic production)
is about 42 kg.
Comparison to Regular Cups A study conducted by the Inventory of Carbon and
Energy at the University of Bath reveals that about 0.55 kg of CO2 emissions can be
linked to the production of each paper/plastic cup (the type used at a typical Starbucks).
Thus, taking this into account, the user of the plastic reusable mug will break even, environmentally (in the worst case) after about 72 uses. Note: Using more realistic figures to
compute the emissions for a reusable mug (10x profit margin, for example), we can expect
consumers to break even much sooner, and in all cases well within the lifetime of the cup.