Scourge of the Forest: Disposable Coffee Cups

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Matt Embrey in Food+Drink

This post was originally posted back on June 1st of 2008 but I decided to repost it after forgetting my reusable mug this morning

unWanted for killing over 6.5 million trees each year

Disposable coffee cups are responsible for the deaths of over 6.5 million trees each year! In 2006 it is estimated that 16 billion of these beasts found their way into the trash creating over 250 million pounds of solid waste. No need to fear, these little short lived monsters can easily be stopped by the use of a simple household item… a REUSABLE coffee mug.

Put a stop to this scourge with a reusable mug

I was thinking about this after I recklessly brought one of these little beasts into the world today (forgot my mug and was too lazy to go back for it). I realized that I have become desensitized to those astronomical figures… 16 billion cups, I can’t even picture that, so I scaled it down to my life. I love coffee and although I have become immune to the caffeine I still drink at least one cup a day, (sometimes more, although I could stop anytime I want, I just don’t wan to!) One cup a day…

That’s 365 cups a year…

365 disposable coffee cups

and 3650 cups over the 10 years that I have been going to my local coffee shop…

3650 disposable coffee cups

Or just one of these (as long as I remember it)…

Can you remind me?

Most coffee joints sell their own branded reusable mugs and most of them give you a small discount when you fill up. So aside from saving trees, it is saving you and the coffee shop money. Even if you coffee shop doesn’t sell mugs and you don’t want to buy one anywhere else you can bring your own glass/ceramic mug. So next time you are heading out to get a cup of Joe, make it a mug of Joe for a simple and easy way to save a tree.

Visit Sustainability Is Sexy for more facts about disposable coffee cups and what they are doing to combat them. Soon you’ll be able to get your own Sustainability Is Sexy mug.

Tags:

coffee, reduce, reusable mug, trash

11 Responses to “ Scourge of the Forest: Disposable Coffee Cups ”

Julie

02. Jun, 2008

That little coffee monster is so cute it’s hard to be mad at him. If he had some downward pointing eyebrows I’d be less inclined to say “save the cute little disposable cup monster!”

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Tim

03. Jun, 2008

Why are we trying to save trees? They are the best free source of carbon sequestration. Plant them, and then harvest them for whatever purposes, coffee cups, building lumber, phone books. As long as we replant (and we have been) this is a sustainable use of captured carbon. If you want to make an argument for landfill use or against bleaching the pulp, then go ahead but the time to protect this renewable resource is past. Once they’ve soaked up enough carbon, cut’em down and use ‘em.

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Sara

14. Jun, 2008

Just think that you might also want to take a look at the cute ‘not a paper cup’ from thinkgeek: http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/accessories/a3a4/

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wendy

09. Oct, 2008

check out my little film about coffee cups

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o7ke_VlzSE

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Nicko

30. Jan, 2009

Fantastic article - and thanks for the website plug.

Sustainability Is Sexy reusable mugs are available! Check them out at:
http://www.SustainabilityIsSexy.com/Cup.png

For more info or to get your SIS cup, email us at: support [at] sustainabilityissexy [dot] com

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Waylon Lewis

20. May, 2009

Question: aren’t most to go cups bleached, as well, and coated with some sort of awful plastic, so you can’t even recycle ‘em with cardboard or paper after using ‘em? Not to mention the lids, usually non-recyclable or hard to recycle, and not compostable as are some new to go cups as from ecoproducts.com.

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- Matt Embrey
  
  20. May, 2009
  
  Way, are you saying the cups from eco products are compostable or aren’t?
  
  Most disposable cups are coated or treated. They can still be recycled but those chemicals are not intended for the recycling process and can create issues. I don’t know how they would fair in the composter, never tried. Good question though.
  
  Reply to this comment
Waylon Lewis

20. May, 2009

Eco Products compostable cups are great–if they’re put in compost bin, not trash. I just got lunch downtown Boulder a few days ago and they didn’t compost their Eco Products cups, just trashed ‘em…meaning the cups won’t compost properly, if at all.

Also, may be made from GMO corn, so not sure if that’s great for gardening or supporting with dollars.

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Trashy

27. May, 2009

NOOOOO! You killed Oslo’s cousin coffee cup!

http://blog.trashythebag.com/2009/05/coffee-cup-mugged.html

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Site's linking to this post:

Green, recycled paper brands - The four you don’t know : Save a Tree - Print Green - Green Options

02. Jun, 2008

[...] if only buying coffee was so eco-conscious and those trees planted by the UN could create a domino [...]

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Go Green, Save Money

04. Oct, 2008

[...] Invest.in.your.own.insulated.coffee.mug If you start every morning with a steamy cup, a quick tabulation can show you that the waste is piling up. Invest in a reusable cup, which not only cuts down on waste, but keeps your beverage hot for a much longer time. Most coffee shops will happily fill your own cup, and many even offer you a discount in exchange! [Green Upgrader’s Reuseable Mug Story] [...]

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