Tim Hortons - double cupping

Tim Horton's is a Canadian Institution in Quick Service Food. I cannot fathom the number of sour cream glazed donuts and turkey breast sandwiches I have consumed over the years. Hot chocolate too. However, another unfortunate Canadian institution is the number of Tim Horton's cups one sees littered on the ground. Jacqueline points out that one of the reasons for this is the fact that Timmy's still double cups their hot beverages, no matter what the situation is. Dining in? Double cup. In your car? Double cup. This is both wasteful and unnecessary.

My assumed rationale behind the amount of packaging: To protect consumers from scalding/burning. Also, volume discounts on purchasing cups instead of buying separate components (i.e. sleeves, ceramic cups)

Alternative considerations: Starbucks successfully reduced waste and saved cost by instituting the usage of ceramic cups for in-house drinks. They also use recycled paper sleeves to protect consumers from scalding themselves. Tim Horton's should also push their reusable mug discount program a bit harder (you pay for a small if you bring in your own mug).

Let Tim Horton's what you think! They can be contacted via email at customer_service@timhortons.com or via phone at 1-888-601-1616. Snail mail is also feasible, at:

874 Sinclair Road
Oakville, ON L6K 2Y1
Tel: (905) 845-6511
Fax: (905) 845-0265

Campbells Select, Campbells Soup at Hand

Campbell's soup to me, has always been a staple in North America. The chicken noodle and tomato alphabet soups have served as many a cold fall and winter evening as comfort food. The broth has been a base to many a carrot-squash soup. My favourite artist, Andy Warhol, even epitomized Campbell's soup cans in many of his silkscreen prints.

However, within the last two years, Campbell's has come out with some "convenience" oriented products that are portable and easily heated in the microwave. One such item is Soup At Hand. This was a particularly good idea because of the growth of the convenience market as well as the lack of healthy offerings in this market. Similarly, soup is a common lunch food that can't be eaten in the car so easily. (Spilling hot soup on to lap in traffic = not so fun.) Lastly, the lid for this soup is small enough so that it doesn't spill all over your car, it is large enough so that all the soup fillings (noodles, vegetables) don't get stuck, and the overall container is a perfect fit into a cup holder and fits the contour of your hand.

So then, where can Campbells improve this product? Although the container is a #2 plastic that can be recycled, the container seems like an awful lot of plastic for such a small amount of soup, and cannot be reused or reheated.

My assumed rationale behind the amount of packaging: The plastic is most likely very thick so that consumers do not burn themselves.
Alternative considerations: Create a refillable and reheatable container that can be fillled with soup from a Campbells Tetrapack.

Campbell's Soup can be written to here.