International fast food chain McDonald’s Corporation has announced it is replacing its purchasing practice of foam polystyrene beverage cups for hot liquids such as coffee and tea and starting to purchase paper-constructed cups. The corporate-level decision was made as a result of customers asking for containers that were constructed with a higher recycled content and less environmental impact.

The Oak Brook, Illinois restaurant chain anticipates that its fourteen thousand United States locations will begin to switch over to the new beverage line throughout the winter and spring months of 2014.

The switch from foam to paper has been in the evaluation phase for some time. In 2012 the company conducted a test pilot with two thousand stores replacing the long-used foam coffee cups with extra-thick paper cups. The test results confirmed that customers were pleased with the switch and that the quality of the beverages was not compromised in any way. Recent changes and innovations in the manufacturing of high-quality paper cups made of recycled materials also resulted in making them a cost effective alternative to the standard polystyrene foam cups that have been in use for decades.

While paper cups still require some energy and chemicals to produce, they are easy to recycle, degrade quickly and put less of an overall strain on the environment.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether you run a large restaurant chain or operate a single-location corner sandwich shop, it’s worth the time to investigate environmentally-friendly products such as beverage containers. The more your customers can recycle, the less you need to dispose of in the trash. When you go green you can save green too!