Wake Up and Smell the Waste

If there is one thing I love it is coffee.

If there is one thing  I hate it is a shit tonne of plastics ending up on landfill when they can be avoided.

As the child of a single parent, I have always been brought up to make everything last. I was encouraged to  eat as much of the fruit or vegetable as possible , cut that bit of mould off the cheese and eat the tangy fruit. (I am not saying we need to go that far, my mother would sometimes be in full denial and would try to convince me that a yoghurt that  had a fluffy coating was just condensation).

Since entering the “real” world I can’t help but notice how prevalent food and packaging waste is, despite the most of us  being very aware of all of the statistics. I won’t get all Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall on you, but according to Environmental Innovation (April 2000), each paper cup manufactured is responsible for 0.24 lbs of CO2 emissions. That’s a hell of a lot.

Most people I work with will only drink bottled water ( FYI PEOPLE TAP WATER IS ABSOLUTELY FINE, I HAVE BEEN DRINKING TAP WATER FOR OVER TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AND I AM ONE OF THE HEALTHIEST PEOPLE I KNOW.  STOP BEING A DIVA AND RUINING OUR PLANET!) and the  mindless disposal continues  despite numerous warnings, information and education. I can currently see four empty plastic water bottles lying on one desk in my office that I am hoping will make it into the recycling bin that  I had organised, but I’m doubtful. Each of these water bottles will  take up to 400 years to be broken down! 

Whilst recycling is great, if you really think about it, all of the energy has already been used to create this cup already so it is a lot better to actually have a reusable option.

Enter Keep Cup!

This leading brand of reusable cups is the world’s first barista standard reusable cup. There are lots of reusable cups out there but  I can’t recommend their product enough. They have waged a war on disposable cups and work hard to try to reduce the amount that end up on landfill. It all started with a solution for restaurant packaging and now they are taking over the world, and making it a better place one reusable cup at a time. Whilst the  difficult to measure they have calculated that they have removed 1,449,104 disposable cups from circulation. Which is pretty darned impressive. The cups are really reasonable and some coffee shops will even give you a discount if you bring your own mug. 

If you are feeling really benevolent you get yourself a reusable water bottle. I tend to use glass ones as I try to avoid plastics and I save so much money with this! I have a Full Circle DayTripper water bottle which I found in the Urban Outfitters sale but there are all sorts of different ones, some even have a compartment to put cucumber should you so wish for your water to have an essence of greenery. Just try, as hard as possible and be aware of where your water bottle/food/coffee cup is going to end up and the process that has happened to make that product. 

Go Green, Save Money and Save the Planet!