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Eat & Drink

Rollup the Rim - Making Litterers Out of Losers?

Posted by Jerrold Litwinenko / March 7, 2007

23 Comments

20070307_timmies.jpgThis time of year is marked by the beginning of the thaw, the return of the geese, and if you're a fan of Tim Hortons - a chance to win free donuts and coffee (and if you're really lucky some even more bling prizes).

Last year there was the whole winning-cup-in-the-garbage-3-way-battle for an SUV story that made national headlines. But every year there's a story that doesn't gain the same amount of media attention, but usually comes up - the litter story.

Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of sore losers out there that will gladly make the effort to roll back the rim on the cup, but not make the effort to put litter in its place. Does this contest make litterers out of losers, or do people just litter a lot all the time?

I'm of the mind that there is more coffee cup litter at this time of year, and if I had the time, I'd conduct a local litter study (I counted 14 discarded cups on my trip from work to home yesterday but have no hard stats, obviously).

Here are some numbers I was able to dig up:

20070307_timmies2.jpg- Over 270,000,000 cups are printed for this promotion.

- In 2005, a study found that Tim Hortons cups made up over 20% of Nova Scotia's litter.

- A 2006 online petition asking Tim's for a change in the contest cups only got 512 of the desired 10,000 signatures

Despite going to great lengths to deliver the "don't litter" message to its customers and get involved in community clean up projects, Tim Hortons' cups still end up all over the city streets. Take a walk and scan the ground, checking out planters, the TTC tracks, stairwells, bus shelters, etc. Clearly, their efforts are futile.

What more can Tim's do?

(images: timhortons.com and wikipedia)

Discussion

23 Comments

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Matt / March 7, 2007 at 07:05 pm
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Great piece, Jerrold, on a regrettable problem that seems to be part and parcel with this promotion. Suggestions for Timmy's... uh... make less awesome coffee? Yeah I'm stumped. Although I suppose it's not a bad time to remind the TTC to put the trash cans back on the platforms so I don't have to carry my cup all the way from Kennedy to McCowan and into my office before I can throw it out...
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rp / March 7, 2007 at 08:35 pm
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timmy hos sucks anyways,what kind of coffee shop or chain doesnt posess a espresso machine,but thats ok they are canadian right?(fake?),and how is it they have only one blend that tastes the same all the time?,so much for fair trade and coffee grown in other parts of the world, because due to our world and weather not one blend can taste the same every time.just whats in that filtered rat turd coffee anyways?.
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PC / March 7, 2007 at 09:03 pm
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As a travel mug toting coffee drinker, the environmentalist in me finds this promotion appalling. What a waste.

My preference is to take my mug into Starbucks (when I'm too lazy to make it at home myself). They knock $0.10 off and -- even better -- if you ask for a Tall, you usually end up getting something closer to a Grande.
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Ryan / March 7, 2007 at 09:04 pm
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If you're concerned about litter, instead of looking at Tim Hortons, perhaps the answer lies in the lack of functional garbage and recycling bins on city streets?

I bought a bottle of iced tea a week ago down near the St. Lawrence Market. Didn't see a single recycling container until I reached Union station. Several garbage cans of course, just no recycling.
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Jam / March 8, 2007 at 12:38 am
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I find the same with McDonald's and other fast food containers - they are just everywhere...
I am hard pressed to find a vegan sandwich wrapper on the ground somewhere....
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Kate / March 8, 2007 at 02:13 pm
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Why is finding fair trade coffee in this city so hard?

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Heather / March 8, 2007 at 02:35 pm
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Well, the solution is to use a travel mug, have promotions for smart people who save money doing so and, as an alternative, encourage companies to switch to http://www.greenshift.ca. (Steamwhistle uses their cups.)

Change has to start cup by cup.

Heather
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Pera / March 8, 2007 at 09:58 pm
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Pointless article. All of the coffee chains (and fast food chains) are making tons and tons of garbage, not just TH. And people will still buy extreme quantities of coffee regardless of the prizes.
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Aub / March 2, 2008 at 02:51 am
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There are several fair trade coffee places around town. They're not everywhere but they do exist and the number of them is growing. Just Us cafe has location in the Beach as well as Queen St (just west of Spadina).

As for the absence of waste bins on the TTC, I know its frustrating, but if you've traveled abroad, you know that these bins were removed for a very good reason - they made easy targets to leave bombs. Instead of dropping my litter, I just put it in my pocket or my pack and wait til an appropriate place to drop it off. I think most people here are as disgusted as I am when I see someone litter on the street. What we need is a better sense of environmental citizenship, not more bins.
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Andrew / March 6, 2008 at 12:12 am
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Terrorism is hardly a good excuse for not putting litter bins on TTC platforms. If it uses garbage cans with clear plastic bags (like the ones at the fares level) hiding bombs is less of a problem. There are many other good places to hide bombs (like backpacks). Also, having a lot of garbage around the subway is a fire hazard.
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Bartek / March 2, 2010 at 09:58 am
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Does anyone know why Tim's cups still arent recyclable? I know it's not the point of the article, but I'm curious why only the lids are.

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MrPotato / March 2, 2010 at 10:13 am
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If every cup was a winner there would be a lot less of them on the ground. If McDicks can give out freebies then so can you. Shame on you Tim Hortons for making us feel like losers and breaking the earth at the same time.
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Mike replying to a comment from Ryan / March 2, 2010 at 11:26 am
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between st lawrence market and union station there are 3 or 4 recycling bins ! were you walking on esplanade or something? :/
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Tom Cochrane replying to a comment from Mike / March 2, 2010 at 11:46 am
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Things may have changed since he initially made that comment three years ago...
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Ellen replying to a comment from Mike / February 25, 2011 at 03:41 pm
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really folks, does it matter? No recycling bin to put it in? Then carry it until you find a spot for it.
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ej replying to a comment from Ryan / February 25, 2011 at 03:43 pm
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so....what did you do with it....throw it on the ground? Sense and responsibility are free for all.... use them.
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ed / February 26, 2011 at 12:33 am
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you can see why the cups litter the ground it's not that Tim's coffee is that great it's that the people who buy the coffee are too lazy to make it themselves so it only goes to mind set that they are going to be too lazy to find a garbage can to put the empty cup in
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Alex / February 26, 2011 at 11:56 am
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...seriously?

You're going to try blame Tim Hortons for lazy idiots? Just throw your garbage away in a garbage can. Really doesn't take a master's degree to puzzle this one out.
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bonnie / February 26, 2011 at 12:31 pm
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In our town Timmies cups and lids are not accepted in our recycle. The Tim Hortons stores in our town cannot even recycle them. It would be nice to have the cups and lids recyclable and then maybe people would make more effort to dispose of them the right way. Also there may not be enought garbage containers in some areas either. I would like to think that people are not just plane lazy and don't care about their towns.
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Randy / February 26, 2011 at 12:45 pm
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Good piece, Jerrold.

Does anyone else remember our former mayor pitching the idea of having a surcharge on disposable cups, and forcing people to wash their own ceramic cups in coffee shops? Terrible idea, especially when you consider that not everyone's definition of "clean" is the same.

Most places will recycle disposable cups, but you have to put the lid and the cup in separate containers -- no big deal.
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tim / February 26, 2011 at 01:13 pm
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http://timhortonstrash.blogspot.com/

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Sir Terence / February 27, 2011 at 06:35 pm
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Interesting thread - good comments from both sides. However, when all is said and done, we'll never be able to legislate against laziness and stupidity. I'm note sure that even a campaign to fine litterers would stop the cretins who think only of themselves.
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karl / March 1, 2011 at 01:59 pm
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We can't legislate against laziness but we can leverage personal gain. The simple solution is do what has kept pop bottles and beer bottles out of public parks for decades: place a deposit on paper takeout cups. Put a 20 cent deposit on a paper cup. Any bus stop is going to have $5-$8 worth of cup trash each morning. There are loads of people who are going to collect these cups for the deposit and keep our streets, bus stops, and parks clean.

Korea had such a system and you never saw any trash on the streets or subways that had such a deposit.
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