After years of trying to engineer a more environmentally friendly coffee cup, Starbucks announced that it's launching a $10 million grant challenge to solicit¹ designs for a cup that's easier to recycle.

在多年尝试开发更环保的咖啡杯无果后，星巴克宣布发起一项1000万美元的挑战，征集更易循环利用的咖啡杯设计方案。

The coffee cup used at present is made from cardboard with a thin layer of plastic tightly attached to the cup.

现在使用的咖啡杯由纸板制成，杯身附有一层塑料薄膜。

This keeps the drink warm and prevents the cardboard from becoming soggy, but it also makes the cup difficult to recycle.

这样的设计能让饮品保温并且防止纸板浸水，但使纸杯难以循环利用。

About 600 billion of these cups are distributed globally each year, and Starbucks accounts for about 6 billion of them, CNN reported.

据美国有线电视新闻网报道，每年全球大约有6000亿个这种杯子在使用，其中星巴克约占60亿个。

The coffee chain has been working on the coffee cup issue for some time, without much luck.

这家咖啡连锁店已经就咖啡杯的问题努力了一段时间了，但是却不怎么走运。

"We've always had a social impact agenda. Sustainability is a big part of that agenda," Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson told CNN's Maggie Lake. , he said.

星巴克CEO凯文·约翰逊向CNN的玛吉·雷克透露：“我们公司一直都有一个社会影响议程。可持续发展议题在这一议程中占据很大比重。”

In 2010 Starbucks pledged to ensure that 100% of its cups would be reusable or recyclable by 2015, which did not happen.

星巴克曾在2010年承诺，到2015年其所有杯子将都可以重复使用或再循环，但未能兑现。

Starbucks is figuring out other solutions to reduce the consumption of cardboard cups before the greener cups are produced.

在更环保的杯子产生前，星巴克正在想其他措施，以减少纸杯的使用。