HeraldNet: Coffee cups clutter the earth



RECENT POSTS:
• Green Drinks! July 22 • Green home kits July 18 • Lawn, schmlawn... July 16 • Ridiculous eco-invention alert! July 14 • Eco-confessional July 11

Archives:



LINKS:
Eat Local • Eat Wild • Get Fresh • Pacific Northwest Cheese Project • Puget Sound Fresh • Tilth Producers • Urban Hennery (Everett) Eco Friendly • EcoConsumer • Green Everett • Green Gardening Tips • Grist Recycling • 2good2toss • Freecycle • PC Recycle • Recycle with Karen (Everett) • Snohomish County Solid Waste

RELATED ARTICLES:
• Save a Buck: Simple changes save power July 24 • Nation, World Briefs: L.A. council votes to ban all plastic shopping bags July 24 • FYI July 24 • Utilities say power grid can handle rechargeable cars July 23 • 361 Stanwood area households advised to boil water July 22 • Air begins to clear in Beijing July 22 • EPA: Global warming to hit poor the hardest July 18 • Bush rescinds offshore oil ban; ball in Congress' court July 15 • Washington state may get Hawaii's next export: Tons of trash July 15 • EPA releases report on warming that White House had buried July 15


ADVERTISEMENT <script language=JavaScript src="http://ads.heraldnet.com/servlet/ajrotator/169233/0/vj?z=heraldnet&ct=122081&dim=169231&abr=$scriptiniframe"></script><noscript><a href="http://ads.heraldnet.com/servlet/ajrotator/169233/0/cc?z=heraldnet"><img src="http://ads.heraldnet.com/servlet/ajrotator/169233/0/vc?z=heraldnet&ct=122081&dim=169231&abr=$imginiframe" width="160" height="600" border="0"></a></noscript>

Eco Geek

May 15, 2008

Associated Press (click to enlarge)

Krista Miller sips a cappuccino at a Starbucks in Seattle.

Coffee cups clutter the earth

Posted at 12:01 am by Sarah Jackson

What are we going to do about it?

Starbucks — which purchased 2.5 billion cups for stores in North America last year — isn’t doing all that much about it, according to this story.

Tully’s, meanwhile, has introduced a compostable cup, but that only works if the cups don’t end up in the landfill, where stuff just doesn’t break down like it does in nature.

I can recommend only one solution. Use your own cup or mug when ordering gourmet coffee. Baristas and clerks are totally used to it everywhere I go. It’s no big deal.

It's worked for me, and, despite being the Eco Geek, I'm not the greenest girl on the block. Thanks to my groovy, thermos-style mug collection, my coffee stays hot much longer (no microwaving required). I don’t feel guilty about indulging in coffee because I’m not creating nearly the same waste load. And it saves me a few cents.

At Starbucks, the discount for bringing your own mug is 10 cents.

That’s cool, but I wonder how much each cup costs the company after shipping? I also wonder if they gave a whole quarter off all those lattes if more people would pitch in?

I bet they would.

Would you? What keeps you from using a reusable mug?

Write me here to share your thoughts or — better yet — comment below and start a broader conversation everyone can enjoy.

Return to Eco Geek

TODAY'S TOP JOBS

View All Top Jobs

>> view all top homes

>> view all homes

<script language=JavaScript src="http://ads.heraldnet.com/servlet/ajrotator/105699/0/vj?z=heraldnet&dim=100749&abr=$scriptiniframe"></script><noscript><a href="http://ads.heraldnet.com/servlet/ajrotator/105699/0/cc?z=heraldnet"><img src="http://ads.heraldnet.com/servlet/ajrotator/105699/0/vc?z=heraldnet&dim=100749&abr=$imginiframe" width="728" height="90" border="0"></a></noscript>
\|Contact Us \|Advertiser Services \|Home Delivery \|Newsstand Locations \|Classifieds \|Feedback \|About the Company \|Work@the Herald \|Site Map	© 2008 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA.