It’s time for Tim Hortons to Roll Up the Rim and recycle: activists

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Three young environmentalists from Calgary are trying to make Canada’s beloved Roll Up the Rim contest more environmentally-friendly. Mya Chau, 12, Eve Helman, 12, and Ben Duthie, 16, started an online petition #BetterCup, calling Tim Hortons to invest into fully recyclable and compostable cups.

“We’d like Tim Hortons to move away from single-use culture because single-use culture is not good for the environment,” Chau said in a phone interview.

Young Canadian activists Mya, Eve and Ben asked the public how @TimHortons's "#RollUpTheRim to Win" contest could be greener.

They have so many great ideas! Check them out here 👉 https://t.co/CCjY2pB5PM.
#BetterCup pic.twitter.com/jEamPKlAZu

— Change.org Canada (@CdnChange) February 8, 2019

Previously, their #BetterCup initiative pushed Starbucks to promise to invest 10 million dollars into a “next gen cup” – an eco-friendly, fully recyclable cup. Duthie also petitioned the company to eliminate plastic straws by 2020. Now the team focused on Tim Hortons.

“Tim Hortons is Canada’s most popular and most favourite coffee chain and we thought that they could be a leader (for other companies) if they made a better cup out of fully recoverable materials,” Helman said. She hopes that the company could meet them so they could share tips on how to be more environmentally friendly.

“Maybe if people brought their own mugs, they could have two chances of winning,” she said, “or they could use a barcode on the receipt.”

The official Tim Hortons website states that its cup can be recycled, but “it is not accepted for recycling everywhere at this time.” According to Sarah King, Head of Greenpeace Canada’s Oceans and Plastics campaign, the plastic lining inside the cups prevents most recycling companies from repurposing them.

King noted that Tim Hortons produces hundreds of millions of cups during the contest. Last October, Greenpeace Canada crowned the company the second top polluter in Canada during clean-up activities across the country.

“It’s a perfect time for Tim Hortons to rethink its approach and Roll Up its Sleeves to start tackling its plastic problem,” King said.

Chau said that their goal is for Tim Hortons to invest into eco-friendly cups. “It doesn’t have to be the next gen cup, but something that is fully recyclable and eco-friendly,” she said.

Tim Hortons has been reached for comments but has not given a response so far. Jane Almeida, a spokesperson for Restaurant Brands International, which owns Tim Hortons, said in a written statement to Toronto Star that the company is working on a new, environmentally friendly packaging strategy. Whether the strategy includes Roll Up the Rim cups is unclear.

As of February 13, 151,797 people have signed the Tim Hortons #BetterCup petition. The goal is to have 200 thousand signatures. The 33rd Roll Up the Rim to Win contest runs until April 17th, or until cups supplies last.