Disposable tableware is recognized worldwide as the most hygienic option. It was actually invented as an alternative to canteen dishware, which required thorough washing. As the story goes, William Dart, the inventor of disposable tableware, once broke a plate in a café as a student and refused to pay for it. The idea of cheap, unbreakable tableware eventually made him one of the richest people in the world. The corporation he founded, Dart Container (Michigan, USA), now generates nearly $1 billion in annual revenue and controls a third of the American disposable tableware and packaging market.
Disposable tableware meeting European quality standards only began to be produced in Ukraine in the mid-1990s — even though it has a history spanning more than a century.
Back in 1908, American doctor Alvin Davison drew public attention to the harmful effects of “public metal cups.”
A Kansas law student named Hugh Moore wrote an exposé in a magazine about how unhygienic it was to drink from them. He also became the first to invent the “safe cup” — a sheet of cardboard rolled into a cone. This became the prototype of the disposable cup. Chicago entrepreneur Lawrence Luellen recognized the potential of this idea and improved it by giving the cup a bottom. In 1909, he not only patented the design but also teamed up with Moore to start a company for producing disposable paper cups.
The following year, the partners came up with vending machines to sell the cups and installed them in public places. Vending machines as a concept already existed — drink vending machines were first introduced in London in 1851 at the Great Exhibition. But it took almost another 100 years for the drink and the cup to come together in a single coffee vending machine. This was a genuine breakthrough for the vending industry and helped drive its growth. Today, coffee consumption is growing worldwide year after year, and so are sales of disposable cups. Coffee and the paper cup have become inseparable.