by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
We all have the urge for a cup of coffee when we are out and about and many of us then head for the nearest coffee shop and get a take out coffee. Few, however, realize how wasteful this is and how wasteful the disposable coffee cups really are.
Billions of those cups are used throughout the world annually and aside from the obvious ones, the ones made from expanded polystyrene, which people realize are a plastic, most believe that the “paper” cups are simply paper and thus recyclable.
The truth is, however, that all of them have a plastic lining on the inside and cannot be recycled, whatever some manufacturers of those, or vendors, try to tell you.
There are some new ones about for sure that are made from cornstarch-based materials but still they are wasteful and, even though they are referred to as “compostable” this compostability only refers to commercial composting facilities where serious heat is generated in the “piles” and not to your compost heap or even composter at home.
Get yourself a reusable cup or mug and there are a number of good sources for those. But the best in this case are those from KeepCup as they are designed to fit under the machines in the coffee shops and are the correct size.
All too often when you bring your own, non-standard travel mug or other kind of reusable cup, the barista will have to use a disposable cup to make the coffee and then decant it into your mug or cup. Defeats the object somehow, doesn't it?
So, get the right kind of cup and you may just do really something for the environment.
© 2013
Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation from KeepCup (or any other source, for that matter) for any component of this article.
