Coffee giant Tim Hortons' annual contest exhorting Canadians to "roll up the rim" has some environmentalists worrying about extra trash.

The contest is designed to boost sales – but along the way, it could also increase the number of coffee cups that end up as litter and landfill across the nation.

Although the company's coffee cups are made out of paper, they're not compostable.

(CBC/Stephen Puddicombe)

That's why the contest sets teeth on edge at some environmental groups.

"Maybe there are creative ways of doing it that doesn't create more waste," said Ron Coleman, executive-director of GPI Atlantic, an organization that measures environmental progress in the region.

A study done for the Nova Scotia Department of Environment in 1998 showed that trash from Tim Hortons accounted for 47 per cent of fast-food litter and 22 per cent of all litter examined at 40 sites across the province.

(CBC/Stephen Puddicombe)

Customers like Chris Morash say Tim Hortons should sell compostable cups to deal with the litter problem.

"They should, with the amount of money they are making off of us. I probably spend about $30 a month there," he said.

Two years ago, a Liberal politician in Nova Scotia proposed that coffee chains collect a five-cent fee on disposable drinking cups, with the money going toward recycling and anti-litter programs. That idea was never implemented.

• FROM APRIL 14, 2003: MLA calls for fees on disposable cups

The company defends itself, saying it works with many groups doing community cleanup and encourages people not to litter.

In New Brunswick, Moncton-area Tim Hortons franchises have found a recycling plant that's able to deal with some of the litter problem.

• FROM SEPT. 5, 2003: Doughnuts, grounds, cups recycled by Tim's

"We run [the cups] through our dry plant and recycle them with our boxboard," said Bill Slater of the Westmoreland Albert Solid Waste Corporation in Moncton.

Slater said the process has led to a big decrease in litter since the program began two years ago.