You can now breathe a sigh of relief when you reach for that hot cup lid for your morning coffee. Eco-Products , along with a few other companies that offer compostable packaging products, is releasing the first commercially available compostable hot cup lid in North America this month. The lid will fit around your hot paper cups of 10, 12, 16, 20 and 24 ounces and can endure up to 220 degree heat. Made from Ingeo biopolymer from NatureWorks LLC, the lid is designed to breakdown within 90 to 120 days in a commercial compost facility. In keep with the company’s commitment to zero waste, the breakthrough is a step towards the first fully renewable hot cup and lid system. Eco-Products' compostable hot cup lid is designed to breakdown within 90 to 120 days in a commercial compost facility. Photo: Treehugger.com Eco-Products has submitted the lid to the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), which certified StalkMarket Products’ compostable Ingeo hot cup and lid system earlier this year. Other companies are taking on the compostable packaging challenge as well. Gingerbread Folk, Twinings, KFC and Haigh’s Chocolates recently switched to compostable food packaging.

Solo Cup Company is another notable food packaging company that has committed itself to higher eco-standards. As a part of its partnership with Keep America Beautiful and its Great American Cleanup, Solo will donate its products and educate consumers on how to utilize single-use foodservice products while keeping the Earth in mind. Traditional hot cup lids and the plastic liner used to coat the paperboard of the cups are made from oil, a nonrenewable resource. According to its site, Eco-Products’ new hot beverage system is made from plant starch material, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with oil consumption. According to Jim Hobbs, director of sales for NatureWorks LLC, this innovation is a great start to reducing America’s dependency on oil. “NatureWorks is excited about this latest innovation in food service,” Hobbs states . “The new Eco- Products hot cup lid will offer the performance that consumers have come to expect from traditional petroleum based lids yet provide the environmental benefits of GHG (greenhouse gas) reductions and a decline in our dependency on foreign oil.”

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North America’s First Compostable Hot Cup Lid Released