Faced with tightening regulations on single-use plastic (the AGEC law in France), cafés, restaurants and bubble tea shops are looking for credible alternatives for takeaway sales. Here's an overview of the main options, with their advantages and limitations.

The Main Alternatives Available

Worth Watching

Compostable Cardboard Cup

The most widespread solution currently. It reduces the use of virgin plastic but requires a real industrial composting facility to be effective — which isn't always available locally. The lid is often still plastic, and leak-proofing remains limited.

Worth Watching

Deposit Schemes and Reusable Containers

The customer returns the container for washing and reuse. Environmentally effective on paper, but requires collection and washing logistics that few independent establishments can manage alone, especially in tourist areas where the customer may not come back.

Reliable Solution

Sealed Transparent PET Can

PET is recyclable in standard sorting facilities, with no need for specific composting infrastructure. The hermetically sealed can also eliminates the main problem with cups: leaks, which often lead to over-packaging (double cup, extra plastic bag).

Why Leak-Proofing Changes the Environmental Equation

A point often overlooked in eco-friendly comparisons : a leaking cup encourages the use of extra protection — plastic bag, double cup, extra film — which adds to the material footprint of every sale. A sealed can that doesn't leak avoids this reflexive over-packaging, without the customer even having to think about it.

The real question : the most sustainable alternative isn't necessarily the one that looks most eco-friendly on paper, but the one that's actually adopted and used well day-to-day by the establishment and its customers.

Where Does the LaCannette Can Fit In?

The LaCannette can is made of transparent PET, recyclable in standard sorting channels. It's not reusable (unlike a deposit scheme), but it eliminates leaks and the over-packaging that comes with them, while offering a more polished brand image than a basic cup. It's a pragmatic trade-off between sustainability, cost and operational simplicity for an establishment that doesn't have the logistics to manage a deposit system.

In Summary

  • Compostable cardboard — depends on a local composting facility that's often unavailable
  • Deposit scheme — eco-friendly but heavy to manage for an independent establishment
  • PET can — recyclable, leak-proof, no reflexive over-packaging