Rethinking Waste at Corporate and Community Events.

by James Diebel, Sustainability Analyst.

This summer, DevryBV Sustainable Strategies sponsored the 2025 Inland Lake Yachting Association (ILYA) Dinghy Championship Week at the Minnetonka Yacht Club. As a firm that invests in both youth sports and organizations that protect nature, the event turned out to be a great fit, given IlYA’s strong commitment to protecting our lakes.

In planning for the event, its organizers tapped into our firm’s expertise and asked our team to recommend a source for sustainable beverage cups at their events. 

Initially, the organizers were leaning toward commercially compostable or biodegradable cups to avoid plastic pollution. After reviewing the options together, we identified some not-so-obvious drawbacks with these products and took a different direction, recommending reusable aluminum cups, which offered a situationally sustainable and crowd-pleasing option.

The Pros and Cons of Commercially Compostable & Biodegradable Products.

Commercially compostable and biodegradable single-use products offer an improvement over traditional plastics because they are derived from natural materials and can decompose back into natural elements. However, this process can only occur at designated industrial composting facilities that maintain high and stable temperatures not present in backyard compost bins or landfills. In Hennepin County, Minnesota, for example, BPI-certified compostable products can be recycled through the organics recycling program.

At present, though, participation requires separating these items from other waste and bringing them to a designated organics recycling site. For many people, this extra effort poses a barrier, and in many communities, these programs simply aren’t available. In fact, a 2023 survey found that only 12% of Americans had access to organics recycling. 

Image credit: Brian Yuri

Commercially compostable products, including compostable paper cups, are not composted under typical landfill conditions because composting requires oxygen, and most landfills are airtight. Instead, these products are left to break down anaerobically. On top of that, compostable and biodegradable products can contaminate recycling streams if placed with regular recyclables.

Then what happens to compostable cups in the landfill? Studies have found mixed results. One study found that PLA (a common ingredient in commercially compostable plastic products) breaks down and releases methane, but others have found that PLA doesn’t break down at all. Either way, the result is far from ideal.

There’s also the issue of sourcing PLA. While corn is the most common source due to its low cost, PLA can also be made from other fermentable sugars, including sugarcane, tapioca root, cassava, and sugar beet pulp, all of which require land, water, and resources that could otherwise support food production. This adds to the overall environmental footprint of compostable and biodegradable products.

On a positive note, some states are addressing these challenges. In Minnesota, a new law that took effect in January 2025 requires all products labeled “compostable” to either be made only from uncoated wood or paper or to meet strict standards for industrial composting. Beginning in 2026, all “compostable” products sold in the state must be certified compostable by a nonprofit third party. While this is a step in the right direction, greater access to and convenience in commercial composting will be key to making these products truly sustainable.

The truth is, compostable and biodegradable plastic products might make us feel like we are making a sustainable choice, but without proper disposal, they end up in landfills, taking up space and polluting the environment in similar ways to conventional plastic products.

How to Drink Responsibly.

Whether it's plastic, steel, aluminum, or glass, in many cases, it is best for the environment to opt for reusable products. However, buying reusable products, especially for one-off events, can be expensive and impractical. To solve this issue, for larger events, our firm has used companies such as r.world reusables, which offers reusable plastic cup rental for events. R.world handles the delivery, pick-up, and sanitization of their reusable cups, eliminating the burden of purchasing and storing reusable cups for events, while reducing the amount of plastic waste that ends up in landfills.

Image credit: Ball.

For more intimate events, aluminum cups are an excellent alternative to single-use products because they are reusable, inexpensive, and infinitely recyclable–roughly 75% of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today. Furthermore, the aluminum can is the most recycled beverage container in the world, with the highest recycling rate, providing evidence that people recognize aluminum as recyclable and increasing the likelihood that aluminum products stay out of landfills. As a bonus, aluminum cups keep your drink colder for longer in the summer heat.

When reusable products aren’t feasible, compostable and biodegradable paper and plastic products can still be adequate options if you have access to commercial composting and are committed to disposing of them correctly.

This topic highlights the need for systems thinking when addressing sustainability challenges because there is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution. Sustainability can be complicated, but it's all about knowing the right questions to ask and understanding the context of each issue. There is a time and place for compostable and biodegradable products, but it is important to use them where they can be most effective.

Amid the confusion surrounding what is truly sustainable, one thing is clear: whenever possible, we need to do more good by simply reducing the amount of waste we produce rather than settling for “less bad” alternatives.