An Earth-friendly plastic

That's no ordinary paper cup. It's coated with a plastic resin made of cornstarch from Cereplast, making the cup biodegradable. Typically, paper cups are coated with a petroleum-based resin, which turns them into plastic cups, says Cereplast CEO Frederic Scheer. Solo, the cup giant, will start coming out with Cereplast-coated cups this fall.

A sample of Cereplast resins. The resins are more environmentally friendly and, more importantly, cost about the same as petroleum-based ones.