In an effort to create a more environmentally friendly coffee cup, Starbucks is now looking to the public.

Offering a $10 million grant, the coffee chain is challenging anyone and everyone to design a cup that can be fully recycled. They have teamed up with Closed Loop Partners, an interest group concerned with being green. Intending to make all their coffee cups completely recyclable by 2015, Starbucks has evidently struggled in their quest to be more green, missing their mark by 3 years. Despite that they have not given up. So far the company has been able to make 10% of the item out of post-consumer recycled fiber, which can only be recycled in certain “appropriate infrastructure” cities.

Annually, according to CNN, 600 billion cardboard coffee cups are used, Starbucks accoubting for approximately 6 billion of them. In order to hold hot liquids without giving way, these coffee cups are made out of cardboard and thin plastic. Despite their strength, the cups are difficult to recycle, and take about 20 years to fully decompose.

Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds have made similar strides toward becoming more eco-friendly. The former plans to discontinue use of polystyrene plastic foams cups immediately, while getting rid of all foam cups by 2020 and having recyclable replacements. The latter planning to do the same by 2025.

By encouraging ordinary people in the general public to help design an efficient and recyclable cup seems to be a rather good idea. Not only is the subject going through a plethora of minds that may be able to reach a solution, but by exposing the public there is more outreach and encouragement toward being more eco-friendly in our world. The awareness may in turn convince other companies to invest time and effort toward becoming more environmentally friendly with their own supplies and/or products. Especially in a political climate that seeks to limit the progress done toward taking care of our earth, initiatives such as this are important. It’s a friendly competition with many foreseeable positives.