It’s week two of 52 Weeks for Earth, the 52-week challenge to gradually reduce your impact on the planet. Following last week’s challenge to quit single-use plastic straws, this week’s challenge is about cutting more single-use waste from your life! It’s time to get a reusable coffee mug, and use it.
Take away coffee and other to-go beverages are served with plastic single-use lids, which, like straws aren’t recyclable, have a life span hundreds of years longer than yours and are a leading cause of plastic waste littering our oceans.
Not only are the lids sent straight to landfill, but the seemingly paper cups that come with them are actually coated in plastic or wax making them virtually unrecyclable, meaning they too go straight towards our ever-growing landfill problem.
Luckily there’s a simple solution to contributing to this wasteful practice, and that’s to bring your own reusable coffee mug or container when you get you coffee or beverage fix. There’s so many fantastic options on the market in every shape, size and colour, so there’s sure to be a reusable to-go mug out there to suit you. I would encourage you to choose something not make of plastic, as they’re more likely to stain or break and more difficult to repair and maintain. Whatever you choose in the end doesn’t have to be fancy, even a simple glass jar will do the job!
Now that you have your mug, you just need to keep it handy for everyday use. Make it a part of your routine to bring it with you when you start your day, when you head to the coffee shop, and then to be cleaned and put back wherever you will remember to bring it with you next time.
Now, nobody’s perfect and we all forget things at times, or find ourselves in need of an unplanned caffeine fix, if you’re craving a coffee and don’t have your mug on hand I dare you to think creatively for an alternative, like a simple glass jar, or take the time to enjoy your coffee to stay instead. Failing these, if you need to rely on their to-go cups, opt out of a lid, to save this unnecessary single-use plastic.
However you take your coffee to-go, make sure it’s not without thought to the lasting impact the single-use container will have on the planet.
#52WeeksForEarth | #ZeroWaste | Facebook: 52 Days for Earth