Media Clipping – March 1, 2005, National Post

Tim Hortons contest a litterbug, critics say: Roll up the rim begins

By Bill Mah

EDMONTON - Rolling up the rim of your morning cuppa might win you an SUV, but critics say it is the environment that loses.

Tim Hortons customers across Canada began peeling back the lips of their coffee cups yesterday as the fast-food giant rolled out its annual Roll Up the Rim to Win contest.

But some environmentalists say what has become a beloved Canadian ritual since its introduction in 1986 promotes waste and propagates littering.

"People buy more cups of coffee and if they don't win, they'll just toss it," said Don Dick, Alberta director of Pitch In Canada, a national non-profit organization concerned about the proliferation of packaging and its effects on the landscape.

"If they want people to buy their product, there's better ways to go about it. [The cup] doesn't melt down or disappear into our environment when it's tossed away. I just fills up our garbage more and it also eats up our paper to make it."

Mr. Dick suggests the company should turn to small scratch cards instead of using treated paper cups for the promotion and launch more customer-awareness campaigns.

During the contest, customers who buy coffee or any hot drink get a chance to win prizes including SUVs, plasma TVs or free coffees or doughnuts by rolling up the lip of the disposable paper cup.

Critics note that even customers who drink their coffee inside the restaurants in ceramic cups are given empty paper cups.

"I don't think it's socially responsible to have a promotion which creates massive waste," said Ronald Colman, executive director of GPI Atlantic, a non-profit group that researches environmental and quality of life issues.

For some observers, the contest brings attention to a year-round problem with carelessly tossed coffee cups. With 2,470 restaurants across Canada, the doughnut chain's distinctive brown cups appear to be a favourite among litterbugs.

In Nova Scotia, Mr. Colman said a government-sponsored study showed Tim Hortons and fast-food rival McDonald's alone account for one-third of all litter in that province. Tim Hortons packaging accounted for 22% and McDonald's for 10.1% of all identifiable litter.

"Worst of all, there's no longer any reason for Tim Hortons to use coffee cups that can't be composted or recycled," Mr. Colman said.

In Edmonton, advertising agency owner Brian Stecyk finds hundreds of Timmy's cups every August in the ditch along Highway 2 near Nisku south of Edmonton.

Staff, families and friends spend a few hours picking up trash on three kilometres of the road participating in the Alberta Highway Clean-up program.

He's noticed a change in the contents of the 20 or so big orange garbage bags of litter they pick up.

"Some years ago, it was mostly McDonald's stuff, wrappers and bags and fries containers," Mr. Stecyk said. "Gradually, it's evolved so that now the number one item is Tim Hortons, which wasn't there a few years ago.

Tim Hortons appears aware of the littering problem. On its Web site in the frequently asked questions section, the company points to the anti-litter messages on its packaging and notes that many outlets sponsor local litter cleanups.

This article also appeared in the Edmonton Journal and the Ottawa Citizen.

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