The Coffee Cup Crisis: What You Can Do!

It was a rainy day in my small town, so naturally the local cafe was crowded. As my sister and I stuffed toasted bagels with generous amounts of veggie cream cheese into our mouths while seeking refuge from the weather, I glanced around the crowded shop in horror. On nearly every table there sat one or more warm beverages, perfect for warding off the chill of an autumn day in New England. My horror came not from the existence of these warm beverages, but from the wasteful, single-use, disposable cups in which they were being consumed. 

The disposable coffee cup industry has long been a plague on the environment. From the cups themselves manufactured predominantly from virgin pulp and lined with plastic—rendering them nearly impossible to recycle— (or, worst-case scenario, styrofoam which can take over 500 years to breakdown in a landfill), to the wasteful cardboard coffee sleeve, and rarely-recycled plastic lid—these warm beverage receptacles are an environmental menace.

Part of what makes the coffee cup crisis so insidious, is the normalization of disposable products and the greenwashing that falsely frames such products as being environmentally friendly. For example, many are operating under the false assumption that paper beverage cups are recyclable, when in fact, they are not. These cups are lined with a layer of plastic polyethylene in order to make the cups waterproof. This layer cannot be separated from the paper material, thereby requiring a specialized recycling process that is not widely available at most facilities. 

Moreover, the majority of single-use coffee cups are manufactured from unrecycled, virgin paper products.

The plastic lids, depending on the type of plastic they are made from and the types of plastics accepted by your local waste services, can be recycled, but they can also be eliminated as a source of waste altogether by replacing them with a reusable cup/lid.

The cardboard sleeves can also be reused or recycled, but often are not.

The sheer magnitude of waste produced from disposable cups necessitates action, or at the very least, reconsideration of our current mode of consumption. Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee every day! As a country, we throw away 25 billion styrofoam cups each year, and more than 50 billion paper coffee cups end up in landfills annually. Considering their manufacturing, distribution, and disposal, each disposable coffee cup is responsible for 0.24 pounds of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a lot of impact for a product which, on average, is used for 15 minutes before being thrown away. 

A warm beverage, be it coffee, tea, or some other concoction, can help us kick start our day, unwind after work, or warm up in cold weather. However, we don’t need to contribute to a destructive culture of disposability in order to enjoy such beverages. There exists a simple and readily accessible alternative to disposable coffee cups: reusable ones! They come in all shapes, sizes, materials, and colors. 

If you’re unsure which cup best fits your need, consider researching online and reading product reviews until you find an option you like.

And, when it comes to the coffee sleeve, consider using a reusable sleeve. You can purchase these sleeves or consider crafting one yourself.

Admittedly, a higher degree of resources and energy initially go into manufacturing a reusable cup whether it be plastic, ceramic, or glass. However, depending on the material it is made from, your reusable cup requires only 16-25 uses before it uses fewer resources than continuous disposable cup use, according to a lifecycle assessment conducted by researchers at Trinity College in Dublin. If you’re someone who drinks coffee or tea daily, or even if you’re not, that’s a quick turn around.

Although I regularly refrain from using disposable coffee cups and predominantly consume warm beverages from within the comfort of my own home, this week I made an extra effort to take my morning tea to-go so I could try out a variety of reusable drinkware. First, on my morning commute to work I used a classic ceramic mug. With no lid, it did slosh and spill a bit in the car, and it did cool down rather quickly, but overall it was easy to use and fit snugly into the cupholder. This option was not the best for transport, but it would be a great option to bring into your office or workplace and use throughout the day.

Next, I used a stainless steel travel mug. While it’s a sad time to be a fan of the NY Giants, the mug worked well nonetheless. It also fit snugly into my cupholder, did not spill, and stayed warm well into my morning shift.

The favorite of all my reusable drinkware is undoubtedly my Cuppow! This innovative reusable drinkware option retrofits a mason jar into a travel mug with a microwave-safe insulated koozie and simplistic spill guard top. Cuppow! Products are made in the USA using recycled, organic materials. They are a company committed to sustainability and they donate 5% of their profits to charity. I highly recommend considering Cuppow! for your reusable drinkware needs. 

Furthermore, for all your cold-beverage cupware needs, consider investing in an insulated, reusable cup and straw to further eliminate the waste of single-use straws, plastic cups, and lids.  Additionally, if you use a Keurig brewing system or equivalent at home, consider using reusable pods or filters to eliminate the waste of single-use disposable pods.


So, by all means, continue to indulge in pumpkin spice lattes, decadent cappuccinos, simplistic teas, and your life-giving coffees. Just make an ecological choice while doing so. In this case, the ecological choice also ends up being an economical one as many gas stations and cafes offer 10-15 cent discounts for using reusable drinkware. If you buy a coffee daily, this amounts to savings of 36-54 dollars per year—not a huge amount, but still some economic incentive to bolster the environmental one. 

If you’re someone who needs a formal contract to hold you accountable for adopting greener practices, like using reusable cups, consider taking the Carry Your Cup pledge, available here:
http://www.carryyourcup.org/take-the-pledge

Additionally, if you are forgetful, consider investing in multiple reusable cups: one for home, one to keep in your car, and one to keep at work so you’re never without the option to be kinder to the environment.

Ultimately, I urge you all, formal pledge or not, to at least spend one week trying out a sustainable alternative to disposable coffee cups. As always, if you give it a try and would like to tell us about your experience, or if you have any additional tips, tricks, or thoughts you’d like to share, please do so in the comments below. 

Stay tuned next week for “loads” of fun as I explore how to incorporate eco-friendly practices to green your typical laundry routine.

~Sam