Coffee wakes us up, keeps us awake during the day and then keeps us up all night to finish homework. According to Harvard’s School of Public Health, 54 percent of people over 18 in America drink coffee every single day.
Coffee is a part of many students’ daily lives, and with great coffee shops all over Chapel Hill, it is easy to stop by and pick up a cup. But what happens to those cups after tired college students drink from them?
According to Betacup, an advocacy group for recycling, nearly 58 billion cups are thrown out annually in the U.S. With the student demographic being a primary consumer of coffee, which is usually sold in disposable cups, it is time for all coffee-lovers to make the switch to reusable mugs or cups.
According to the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling, campus waste has generally been dropping since the 1990s, but reducing our coffee cup usage would still have a large impact on our trash each day.
UNC organizations should also promote coffee mugs in the same way that they encourage reusable water bottles by continuing to promote their usage and by giving them out as an optional award for signing the Carolina Green Pledge.
Environmental arguments aside, most coffee shops charge less for bringing your own cup; since college students love discounts, using a mug should be a no-brainer.
Thermoses will help save the environment and keep the bank account in the black a little longer — there is no reason not to make the switch.
