Kill the Cardboard Cup

A much more creative way to use coffee cups…

Unfortunately, I don’t think any of the cups in this video were reused, but if you’re going to use a disposable cup, at least think of creative uses for it after (or before) your coffee is done…

Source: Mona latte: Da Vinci’s Lisa masterpiece recreated using cups of coffee, Daily Mail (UK)

Photographer Chris Jordan uses photography to illustrate the staggering scale of human consumption. In this series of pictures titled Paper Cups he depicts 410,000 paper cups – equal to the number of disposable hot-beverage paper cups used in the US every fifteen minutes.

Pretty shocking and appalling.

Partial zoom:

Detail at actual print size:

greenUpgrader has an article The Scourge of the Forest: Disposable Coffee Cups.

Read the article for more information on the damage caused by disposable cups and some good visuals.

Recycling drive proves tall order

Since November, Lisa Wilson at Brock University’s Science Stores has crossed paths with 36,592 paper coffee cups, which, when stacked, measure the height of 7.3 Schmon Towers, or about 370 metres.

It is hoped to encourage the proper disposal of these plastic cups, across campus, even after this initiative ends.

“Some of our goals are first, teach people to separate the lids, [which are] plastic recycling, from the cups, [which are] compostable.” said Wilson

“The second, diverting ‘good’ garbage from the landfill and lastly, I’m hoping that the visual effect of actually reaching the top of the tower might encourage people to switch to refillable mugs.

“Once the challenge is finished, there will be bins [around the school] with vinyl identification on them, so hopefully it will continue.”

Modern life is rubbish: litter is everywhere on Dorset streets

An article on litter in the streets with a shot of another abandoned cardboard cup…

Fast food firms taken to task after survey of street litter

Keep Britain Tidy named the most littered brands in England as McDonald’s, Greggs, KFC and Subway. While types of litter around the country varied, in London coffee cups from a mixture of brands accounted for most litter.

Pledge to Kill the Cardboard Cup and keep your city streets clean of unnecessary waste.

Starbucks’ most popular position in the Australian market

From a satirical article on Starbucks: Starbucks gives staff Double Mocha Sackuccino

Do You Know Where Your Latte Mug Lands?

Another article supporting reusable cups…

1.) From Stanford University: Imagine the resources we would save if every coffee drinker brought a reusable cup to the coffee shop—even just for one day. If every Starbucks customer used a re-usable coffee thermos, we could save 1,181,600 tons of wood, 2,040,061,237 pounds of carbon dioxide, and 4,441,093,624 gallons of water every year. That’s more carbon dioxide than would be emitted if the entire population of San Francisco got in their cars and drove from San Francisco to New York. And it’s enough water to supply all of Los Angeles for 8 days.

2.) From Treehugger.com and Organic Style: “Take all the people who read this magazine, then persuade them to sip their morning coffee from a travel mug for one week. Result: Enough trees to fill two football fields will be spared the ax. Can’t commit to a week? Switching to reusable cups for just one day will save as much energy as using 1,000 gallons of gasoline.”

The Guardian explores whether reusable cups or cardboard cups are more green.

Conclusion: Bringing your own cup is the greener option.

Due to an increase in pressure by customers, Tim Hortons has hired Turtle Island Recycling Corp. to take coffee cups left behind in its Toronto stores and turn them into roofing paper or cardboard boxes.

Read the article here.