The drink tray is an obvious necessity if you've ever picked up more than your cupholders can handle at a drive-thru. The good news is drink trays, and other molded pulp products, are something you can feel good about.

Molded pulp products extend way beyond the drink trays you'll find at restaurants, cafes and sporting events and are used to ship everything from eggs to consumer electronics and are slowly replacing plastics and styrofoam as a preferred packaging material.

Molded pulp products are just that - molded paper pulp - reminiscent of papier mache. A series of machines take the wet newsprint/cardboard mixture, form it to a plastic mold, remove the excess water, then set it to dry. Molded pulp products are made from waste paper, often times 100% post-consumer content. They are completely biodegradable, recyclable and compostable.

From a manufacturer's or shipping perspective, it is an advantageous packaging material. It absorbs shocks and protects products like other, less eco-friendly packaging materials. It can be shaped to fit any custom need, and it is nestable and stackable, which takes up less room in storing and shipping the material. Computer manufacturer HP, for example, has pledged to switch over to molded pulp packaging from expanded polystyrene (EPS) in many of their products.

However, as consumers, we don't see a lot of this molded pulp packgaging until we open a new computer or DVD player. If you're lucky enough to come across molded pulp packaging in a product you purchase, be sure to recycle it and think about writing the company to thank them for their packaging choice.

As for that drink tray. Reuse it. If you're the designated coffee runner save the drink tray for your next trip. Or simply take the tray back inside and ask that the business reuse it for their next customer.

Amy says: This tip was inspired by a couple of teenagers I witnessed struggling to stuff their drink tray into a garbage can outside of a popular coffee stop in lower Manhattan. (I opted for no drink tray or handled shopping bag when offered for my two iced coffees.)

International Molded Pulp Environmental Packaging Association

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