PORTLAND, Ore. – Burgerville could set the stage for other Northwest businesses because it now offers cups, lids and straws that can be composted.

It’s all part of a three-year project that included Coca-Cola and International Paper, and Alison Dennis, Burgerville’s director of supply chain, said it’s a move that could really add up.

“When you think about it, just about every guest that comes to Burgerville uses a cup, so being able to switch all of this waste stream from the landfill bin to the compost bin adds up to a pretty big difference,” she said.

According to Dennis, the company’s goal is to have 85 percent of what people throw away never go into landfills.

Burgerville’s new cups don’t have the wax inside but a plant-based water resistant coating that makes able to be composted.

Customers will find three bins at Burgervilles: One for regular garbage, one for items that can be composted (cups, lids, and straws), and one for items that can be recycled.

Before Burgerville switched to cups and lids that could be composted, customers had to separate the straw, the cup, and the lid. The straw could go into compost, while the cup and the lid had to go into the landfill bin.

Now customers can simply leave the straw in the cup and toss the whole thing into the compost bin.

But are the sorting stations too confusing or will people just not take the time to sort their items properly? Jennifer Stockwell, a customer who did not know about the new cups, put the system to the test Tuesday.

 At first she hesitated and asked a reporter whether her cup, straw, and lid combo could go in any container. While it wasn’t second nature for her, she quickly figured it out.

“I just needed to look, and I was in a hurry, which I tend to be, so I think it’s not complicated at all,” Stockwell said. “You just read what it says.”

The system may not be perfect, a few small things like ketchup packets still have to be thrown away, but Dennis said that’s the next challenge for Burgerville. A challenge, she said, that the company is ready to take on to move it toward doing away completely with the trash.

“Hopefully, we’re making it easy for people to compost along with us,” she said.

A representative of Metro, which is the authority on recycling and composting in the area, said Burgerville could really set the standard for other businesses in the Northwest and even across the country.