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If you have been buying your coffee from a café, gas station, or other shop, you are getting ripped off! The cost is pretty high and the quality is usually low compared to what you can make yourself at home. Also, let’s stop and think about what is involved with your daily cup. Usually your coffee is placed in a plastic lined cup (those are not just paper!), topped with a plastic cover, and then placed inside a beverage sleeve so you don’t burn your hand. If you add sugar or cream, there will be additional packaging garbage and then the stir stick to mix it all together. All this for one drink! Multiply that times 365 days a year and you are drowning in plastic waste. In fact, coffee cups, lids, and stirrers are 3 of the top items found in the 2019 International Coastal Cleanup. There is a better way and you have lots of options!
Today’s Challenge: Make your own cup of joe at home and get a reusable hot beverage thermos for on the go. Here are some tips for enjoying your coffee plastic free.
- Buy ground coffee in a large container or use the coffee grinder at your grocery store and place it in your own reusable bag or container.
- Use non-plastic filters in your coffee machine. My husband likes this compostable version by If You Care. Did you know that coffee grounds are also compostable and actually improve the composition of your final result? You can also get a reusable coffee filter.
- Try a French press to avoid using coffee filters altogether. Or check out this percolator with a basket.
- Have a Keurig? Stop throwing away those K-cups every day. Get yourself a reusable one instead so you can still enjoy your single cup. If you have a lot of K-cups leftover, Subaru has partnered with Terracycle and accepts them for drop-off at most of their dealerships.
- Bring your own tumbler to a coffee shop. You can use your insulated water bottle, or consider a separate travel mug. I love my Contigo mug. My drinks are still piping hot by lunch since I always forget about them, hehe! After 20 to 100 uses, a reusable cup will offset the higher greenhouse gases used to produce it. As a daily tea drinker myself, it didn’t take long for me to reach this and I’m still using the same thermos five years later.
- Make sure to bring your travel mug with you on vacation and work trips. Although every state in the US allows customers to fill their own beverage cup at shops, less than 5% of patrons do this. Some places will offer you a discount for bringing your own mug.
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