A friend of ours recently informed us that 1,000 Styrofoam cups have the same environmental impact as one ceramic coffee cup. What she didn’t tell us, however, was the number of recycled paper coffee cups that equal one commuter cup. Assuming that logic is on our side with this theory, we’ll continue to believe that bringing your own re-usable coffee container is better than throwing away a paper cup every time.
We rarely buy coffee by the cup, partly because if it’s not already made by the time we get out of bed, we ain’t gonna make it outside. Instead, we buy a bag of beans—fair trade, shade grown and organic, when we can—and brew it up with our fancy Italian heaven dispenser.
Last week, when we found ourselves in a Starbucks buying a bag of their hard-to-find “good” beans, we also received a free cup of coffee with our purchase. We were admiring some of the cup’s graphics when we noticed this statement: “Made with 10% post-consumer recycled paper.”
Apparently, this is a big deal, an industry first, and Starbuck’s is being honored by the green community for this major innovation and many others, like their (coffee) Grounds for Your Garden program. We don’t doubt that this is a step in the right direction, and we applaud them, but 10%?
If Starbucks is making the effort to be more sustainable, and they certainly are, perhaps they can help motivate the rest of us to change our habits, as well. After all, manufacturers have convinced consumers to recycle their waste. Shouldn’t they also be able to convince us to reuse it, reduce it, and even exchange it for a better alternative all together?
The media is the message.
One idea to encourage reuse could be for companies to print crafty suggestions on the packaging or their website to encourage 101 more uses. In grade school, we made things like birdhouses from old milk cartons, baby jars and Popsicle sticks. Even today, Do-It-Yourself culture is on the rise. Why not keep that childlike spirit alive in everyone by inspiring multiple uses and a more prolonged after-life?
Grow a coffee plant in this coffee cup.
Invent a game using these beer bottle caps.
Make a paper airplane out of this one sheet.
When you are done reading this magazine, build a piñata with it.
Then recycle it until we can figure out a smarter alternative.
To go one step further, Starbucks and other companies could be discouraging disposability all together. What’s wrong with getting rid of the cheap paper cups and selling more personalized mugs like we have at home? Seems to us that there's more money in that game, anyway?
Of course, offering a ten-cent discount for those who bring in their re-usable commuter mug isn’t much motivation for someone willing to spend $4 on a coffee. Plus, we don’t ever recall this discount being advertised anywhere. Seems to us like it’s more of a token reward for those already bringing their own mug than it is motivation to get people to change their habit. Perhaps the baristas should communicate these savings to us every time we don’t bring in our own cup. Or maybe the incentive should be printed right there on the paper cup that is also made from 90% new paper fiber.
“Please make this your last paper cup. Bring your mug next time and save.”
In fact, while we’re at it, why can’t all companies print something like this on any item for which there's a better alternative. For example, “Please make this your last brochure. Visit our website instead,” or “Please make this your last disposable battery. Try our rechargeable ones instead,” and so forth.
Implementing these kinds of fun and interactive suggestions do not excuse corporations from putting all of the responsibility on their customers to implement change. After all, it should not be our responsibility to recycle the waste given to us. It’s the responsibility of businesses to make sure we don’t have to.
Until that time when we can plant coffee cups in our coffee ground gardens, or drink coffee straight from our spigot, we’ll continue to drink from our own cups and not one of their partially recycled ones.
So, what became of that free cup of coffee that inspired us? Our office cleaners mistook it for trash and threw it away. Perhaps if it had other instructions on it, people might begin to look at trash as a valuable resource worth reusing or redesigning.
  
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