Paper Cup Challenge

Hi Fern,

If your office is open to cheesier ideas, you could always do a points contest for bringing your mug to work. Hang up a chart with everyone's names (in larger offices, break people into groups) and each time someone brings their travel mug in they get a point. Once an individual or group has collected enough points they could receive a bag of fair trade coffee or a new travel mug, etc. I understand from former posts and from experience that rewards do not always work as expected. But, by creating norms in your workplace and adding a "fun" element, you will most certainly raise awareness about alternatives to disposable cups.

Have fun,
Vanessa

Vanessa Higgins,
C. Tech,
CEPIT Watershed Specialist
Strathcona County, Utilities
2001 Sherwood Drive
Sherwood Park, AB T8A 3W7
Phone: (780) 416-7296
Fax: (780) 464-0557
www.strathcona.ab.ca

We have a similar system for tracking alternative commutes during ozone season, and I can vouch that for me and most of my cohorts, it makes a huge difference to have a little office competition and to have someone who tracks and cheers you on when you make progress (and who you disappoint if no progress is made). I think the personality of the person who is doing the tracking is key -- I'd be a bad choice, for example, as I would come off as heavy-handed. What if there were a way to use the mug itself to track its usage? I keep thinking about ways to use those mugs that you can put pictures or whatever in -- the mug could be its own pledge/reminder and a badge of honor if it stacked up use points or whatever. Sorta like how back in the olden days your suitcase got stickers from your travels that you kept on it. Having good coffee, decent mugs, and a dishwasher at work might also make a difference. We have mugs & dishwasher here - coffee stinks. ;) We have tons of stakeholder meetings and we have enough mugs that we don't ever need to use disposable cups. We also do a little half-n-half club so we don't have 5 cartons of the stuff open in the fridge at any given time. We just take turns buying it. That might encourage people to drink coffee in-house too. It's a lot harder if people are going OUT to buy their coffee - baristas are sometimes weird about getting handed a travel mug, and there is more pressure from people behind you in line to not complicate matters. Plus you have to remember to BRING your mug! and wash it, etc... and most travel mugs are not dishwasher safe.

Two potential ideas, both totally untested:

1. Simply eliminate the supply of paper cups, and put up a sign that mugs are available at a certain desk. Make people leave their ID card when they take out a mug, and they've got to return the mug (clean) to get the card back. At a university, campus ID cards should work OK, in other organizations you might have to substitute. or

2. Wire the paper cup dispenser so that, whenever someone takes a cup, something annoying happens. Kind of like the (cow-shaped) refrigerator magnets with motion detectors which shout out "Holy cow! Are you eating again?" whenever the door opens. (I like the second one, but then I get into trouble a lot!)

Rick Martin

Energy & Computing Management
Syracuse University
315-443-3953

In our kitchen area we have mugs available for anyone's use--and in the summer months we used compost-able cups (of cornstarch) with our campers which were rinsed out each day and then added to the compost pile at the end of the week.

Geralyn Warfield

Houston Zoo, Inc.
Houston, TX
[email protected]

Hello Fern:

In our offices and as components of some of the projects that we support, groups have approached local coffee shops requesting that they consider a discount for customers that bring their own mug rather than taking a disposable mug. The amount is not important, 5 or 10 still carries a message. In some instances, the coffee shop will do this for the duration of the initial campaign only which serves to increase awareness amongst customers and staff at the coffee shop. You could offer the coffee shop a certificate of recognition in supporting the initiative for them to post. My children's community centre has a similar program for hot chocolate and fountain drinks - branching out from the coffee niche. Similar campaigns have used a pledge form for each participant that can be posted on the wall or on a cubicle recognizing their commitment to use the travel mug rather than a disposable cup. The benefits are that the person has made a public display of his or her commitment and it helps to create a norm for the workplace. An attractive reminder by the coffee machine would be a useful prompt. When dealing with new participants, a barrier for participation maybe the coffee drips that mess up backpacks and briefcases once the mug has been used. I re-use bags that are typically used for frozen foods, dried fruit or candy. They are sometimes quite large, very durable and the seal is good. Groups that are ordering and providing travel mugs might consider printing benefits on the mug, a top ten list of sorts, something to the effect, "By using this mug, I have contributed to ..." followed by facts about waste diversion or even some humourous bits thrown in. My thought is that this would be a reminder for the participant of his or her role as well as a positive conversation starter without being preachy.

Vicki Asu

Project Officer, Community Programs
Environment Canada
Suite 150, 123 Main Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba RC3 4W2
(204) 983-0020 [email protected]

A drastic yet effective way is to purchase a supply of used coffee mugs which can be done economically at a thrift store, and simply stop purchasing disposable cups. Voila'! If folks in your office pay for their coffee by the cup, charge less for folks using a mug, as is done at coffee shops here. One can get a .05 or ..10 per cup discount if you bring back your own mug.

Good luck!
Theresa Cross,

MS RD CD Health Educator
Tobacco Prevention and Education Program
Clark County Public Health
1601 E. Fourth Plain Blvd.
Vancouver WA 98661
Mailing Address: PO Box 9825
Vancouver WA 98666-8825
360/397-8000 ext. 7378

Changing behavior to get people to change to using mugs rather than paper cups uses the same principles as changing any behavior and with any age group: Analyze the antecedents to the behavior and make appropriate changes Model the behavior The desired behavior increases if the consequences are pleasurable Repetition increases learning Don't give attention to the undesirable behavior. This translates into some of the ideas already mentioned: Make mugs, decent coffee, dishwashing facilities convenient and pleasant to use. Management could give attractive mugs as holiday gifts, birthday gifts. Stop supplying paper cups. Make sure that a suitable (attractive) role model (plus management) at the office uses a mug and encourages everyone to bring their mug Use age appropriate and fun reinforcement, eg management gives recognition Maintain the same protocol and make it the norm

Don't attend to complaints - ignore them
Marion Huxtable

In my experience local coffee vendors are usually willing to offer a discount to people who bring their own mugs - they'll even help you promote it by putting up posters at the shop. That is a pretty good and recurring icentive that spreads by word of mouth also. Providing distinct and highly visible insulated mug made of recycled plastic etc can help too, but people tend to be highly wedded to their personal favourites, so may not be a good idea to limit it to the special one, just offer it as a promotional tool. See http://www.acts.asn.au/ for lots of good green office initiatives. i.e. http://www.sustainability.uts.edu.au/docs/etagarzbachar.doc

cheers,
Stefan Kaufman

Social Research Officer
Community Support Unit
Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria
T) (03) 9695 2705
F) (03) 9695 2579
E) [email protected]
W) http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/
40 City Rd Southbank Vic 3006
GPO Box 4395QQ, Melbourne 3001

Hi All,

When I worked in the EPA here in South Australia, we celebrated the banishment of styrofoam cups and their replacement with mugs with a 'Mugshots' morning tea. There was a competition to bring in the most outrageous or unique coffee mug, and for each person to have a 'mugshot' of their face and their mug, from which a winner was chosen for a small prize. Staff were also asked to submit any suggestions they had for greening the workplace.

Cheers,
Sharon Ede

Research/Project Officer
Zero Waste SA
www.zerowaste.sa.gov.au

Hello,

the Green Team at Environment Canada has been working on getting staff to choose not to use disposable cups for a while now. One of the most effective tools we have found is getting staff to sign a pledge that they have to post in their office saying they will only use a reusable mug at work, and if they sign the pledge, they are given a travel mug. One of the big barriers staff have identified in using their mugs everyday is that they forget to bring it home and don't have it first thing in the morning. One of Canadian Revenue Agency's offices in Quebec is piloting a project with their cafeteria where staff can only use reusable mugs, there are no disposable ones provided, so staff must bring back the cafeteria's mug when they are done with it, or bring their own. All the tools for the Environment Canada lug a mug campaign are available on our website: http://www.greeninggovernment.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=9F4EE8F2-1

Good luck!
Analise Saely

Green Citizenship Coordinator/
Coordonnatrice d'cocivisme
Environmental Affairs Division/
Division des affaires environnementales
Environment Canada/
Environnement Canada
1040 St. Joseph Gatineau, QC K1A 0H3
T: (819) 997-9807
F: (819) 994-5068
E: [email protected]

I like most people I know use reusable cups for my beverages, I operate under the belief that because I reuse it over and over again it has to be better. However, I found this reference to a study of reusable vs disposable cups and it casts a shadow over my belief. http://www.ilea.org/lcas/hocking1994.html Can anyone tell me, is this a valid piece of research? Its all well and good for us to think that we are doing the right thing, however, are we blindly blundering along like Michael Leunig's chap with the bag of roosters. I would like to keep using my reusable cup! You may notice that there are a number of other life cycle analyis' on this web site which will cause a problem to those that hold 'reuse' dear to heart.

It's interesting that so many of your coworkers are wedded to paper cups! The "environment" in this office has always reflected daily use of ceramic/glass mugs for employees. The coffee cups or mugs of some employees are easily identified and easily returned if misplaced. Besides, the cups and mugs used invariably are larger than throw-aways, so I guess that means we have serious coffee drinkers who head, lemming-like, to the central coffee pot several times daily! (Mugs with the agency logo have been distributed from time to time and that appears to encourage reusables too). We drag out disposable cups when workshops or meetings are held with people coming from outside the office out of habit and ease of clean-up. We do have a hoard of ceramic mugs that we've occasionally remembered to pull out for said workshops, however. If yours is an agency with "environmental" in the name, perhaps remind your coworkers of that obvious fact! We've also recycled aluminum and paper for 15 years. During our most recent recycling/office cleaning event, we recycled almost 7 tons of mixed office paper. We quit recycling cardboard because it overtakes our store room so quickly and the return is too poor to justify hauling it halfway across town to the recycler.

Barbara Bess

FL Dept of Environmental Protection
Central District - Orlando

There is a company in boulder, Colorado, that is making these from compressed sugar cane fiber and corn byproducts. They are supposed to break down in the landfill in about 2 months. I have used them, they are fine for hot liquids and such- but you can't eat them! see them at www.ecoproducts.com This would be a great industry for NE Australia and the Philippines.

Laurence Budd

Interesting, but there are other environmental impacts one could factor in besides energy to manufacture, such as transport to and fro the point of use and the difficult-to-quantify impact of trash/waste. I do think cheap travel mugs can be worse than a paper cup & sleeve - I went to an environmental forum recently where they were giving mugs away, and there was a huge pile of broken lids that were too poorly made to fit on the mug. Very sad! I'm a big fan of anything second-hand. If you wanted to outfit your office with mugs, all you'd have to do is stop by the household section of your local Goodwill. Problem solved. Can't do that with disposables!

Not to worry Michael,

I may be reading the information wrong, but it looks like the calculations are based on energy used for multiple dishwasher runs of reusable cups. I know that I rarely turn on the dishwasher with one cup it in, I wait until it is completely full. Plus, the biggest factor missing in my opinion is the volume of waste being sent to landfills by disposable cups. True, energy and water waste is important as well, but the biggest incentive for me when I use my reuse cup is that I don't have to throw it out after I'm done with it. Even if a ceramic cup breaks you can use the pieces for fun craft projects! Has anyone seen calculations comparing disposable vs. paper cup waste? All I seem to see is energy comparisons.

Vanessa

Vanessa Higgins, C. Tech,
CEPIT Watershed Specialist
Strathcona County, Utilities
2001 Sherwood Drive
Sherwood Park, AB T8A 3W7
Phone: (780) 416-7296
Fax: (780) 464-0557
www.strathcona.ab.ca

Hi All -

These look like great products, but I think it's important to consider that they may be more transitional than sustainable. While we have mountains of byproducts from oil/gas-based farming, finding a use for them is likely sensible, particularly compared with non-biodegradable non-renewable stuff. But do we "need" the "conveniences" that these products offer? As others have mentioned here, what is the actual, non-externalized total cost of use? Too big for my budget, I'm sure. Should a sugarcane coffee cup go for US $100? Apropos, here's another recent warning about peak oil: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174829/michael_klare_tough_oil_on_tap

Best,
Adam in damp but droughty Massachusetts
Good old US of A
Land of the Spree, Home of the Rave

Michael,

The research raised the following questions for me.

1. Figuring the energy consumption to run the dishwasher is tricky. The figure is in units of mj/cup-wash. I would be interested in seeing an explanation of this unit and how it compares to real world use. I am thinking it's the amount of energy used by a dishwasher divided by the number of cups that could fit into a dishwasher per each "run"?

2. I don't see the energy used to dispose of the cups in the figure anywhere. I know from church potlucks that it does not take long to fill up bags with disposable dinnerware and we commonly produce 6 or more large trash bags of disposables alone. Not all of those are cups, of course, but over the course of a year, figuring four potlucks and maybe a funeral or two that would be six bags of cups. On a macro scale, how many more trips do garbage trucks take because of disposable cups?

3. If we really want to get picky, what about cup acquisition, especially shipping to point of sale (or point of giveaway since that is how I have come to own most of my mugs)? I am hazarding a guess but I would think that many more disposable cups are transported in a week than mugs. At some point, there is base level of beverage-ware transportation, but if the world were to suddenly shift to mugs en masse, would the current shipping levels go down?

4. And on a related note, I think we could put a world wide moratorium on mug production for oh, another three years or so. At our last Water Festival, the theme was Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I asked the local thrift store for a donation of mugs and got boxes and boxes. They were so happy to give them away. The people I talk to around North America indicate the situation is similar in their locale.

Regards,
Anne

Anne Lewis
I&E Project Administrator
Project WET SD
805 W. Sioux Ave.
~ Pierre, SD 57501
~ 605-224-8295
www.sd-discovery.com

Hi All -

I find this is a very interesting discussion. Stepping back for a moment, it seems to me that the issue is that we have to cut back on practically everything, and that makes people panic. How can life possibly go on without an endlessly growing economy, without exponentiating? That's our cultural sustainability behavior paradox: the only way to sustain our lives in our accustomed manner (without which life isn't worth living) is to live unsustainably. Because it's so difficult to deal with that paradox, we focus on details like cups, mileage, solar panels, etc. - all of which may be pieces of the puzzle, but none of which make up the whole picture. In fact, from the perspective of synergy, even all those kinds of pieces wouldn't make up the whole picture. Unfortunately, IMHO, the only sustainability that will work is the sustainability of less for the privileged (much less for many), and enough - food, water, shelter, clothing, healthcare - for everyone. Along the lines of contraction and convergence. How does this observation inform the cup issue? It strikes me that any issue is a place to start the discussion and the awareness. My community is rolling out an extensive effort to get people to follow the Low Carbon Diet. The goal is for our wealthy little town of Lexington, Massachusetts, to lose one million pounds this year. That's great, but if it ends there it's just a symbolic gesture. This effort, to be worthwhile, has to lead to getting rid of not only SUV's, but as many of our cars as possible, substituting biking, walking and public transport. And turning our ridiculous 5,000 square foot mansions into multiple family dwellings. And growing much more local food. And so forth.

Cheers!
Adam

http://www.ilea.org/lcas/hocking1994.html

Can anyone tell me, is this a valid piece of research? Its all well and good for us to think that we are doing the right thing, however, are we blindly blundering along like Michael Leunig's chap with the bag of roosters. I would like to keep using my reusable cup! Hi All, It is important to understand that this study is an *energy* analysis of reusable vs disposable, and therefore is not a complete life cycle analysis, as it is only assessing energy and no other impact the products may have across their life. Climate change is crucially important, but at the same time, if we are too 'climate-happy', we are in danger of focussing on single issue solutions and not looking at the total impact. It is also context dependent eg. Australia is in the grip of its worst drought on record, and I had a query from someone wanting to know about the relative merits of reusable vs disposable in terms of water used to wash reusables. So there are concerns people are trying to trade off besides energy. It is hard to know which is the better option in a range of situations and there are often no clear cut answers because it almost always depends on context...like whether you are in the middle of a drought! It depends on whether you have a dishwasher which is water efficient. Doing the washing up in bits and pieces can sometimes use more water (and energy) than a water efficient dishwasher...and then you have a machine that requires materials and uses energy - but we have got to get those dishes done somehow, its hard to have no impact! It depends on how much water is used to make an ongoing supply of disposables (its easy to forget about the 'embodied water' - and energy - used in manufacturing). Crockery uses water in manufacture too of course, but then the materials are used over and over again so its important to look at the impact across the life cycle. It is tricky, there are waste, water and energy (and other) issues to be weighed up, and its hard to say where the greater impacts are, especially if you are taking into consideration a range of products, the washing mechanisms (if using crockery), the waste management processes...can we justify use of non renewable resources like fossil fuels for throwaway plastic items when we can use a mug/cup that can be used many hundreds of times over (notwithstanding some % of accidental breakage)? I don't know about everyone else, but my favourite mugs have been used for YEARS, not just a dozen or a hundred uses! My personal view is that disposables (nappies, paper towels, cups, cutlery/crockery etc) are not the best option where reusables can be used (not always possible). Yes, there is water used in washing reusable items, or in recycling...but there is also a huge volume of water (and energy, materials) used in manufacturing a flow of stuff which we use once then dispose of, which we also need to consider, looking up as well as down the life cycle of the product. Recycling is good, reduce and avoid is better.

Cheers,
Sharon Ede

Research/Project
Officer Zero Waste SA
www.zerowaste.sa.gov.au

http://www.ilea.org/lcas/hocking1994.html

Factoring the energy costs for reusable cups included dishwashing: does the cost for disposable cups include distribution (that is packaging and delivery?)

Wayne

C. Wayne Ives, P.G.,
Hydrogeologist Instream Flow Specialist http://www.des.state.nh.us/rivers/instream/
 

Dear Folks:

http://www.ilea.org/lcas/hocking1994.html I subscribed to ILEA before Mr. Hammerschlag went back to graduate school and stopped writing his newsletter. What disturbs me about these economic analyses is that they have a limited frame and are based in economic reasoning that does not include the natural resources on which all systems depend. What about the environmental costs involved with the landfill? Those plastic liners last how long? 25 years? And then what happens when all those charming materials leach into the groundwater - the water we drink? And where is this landfill located? In your backyard? Or someone else's? Also not factored into the analysis is the possibility of recycling the grey water - the water used to clean the cups, which should be normal practice, particularly in areas affected by drought. I have two mugs at work which I use for my water every day. 200 days a year? Times 7 years so far? They get rinsed every day with half a cup of water for the two cups, because Lord knows what they spray in here at night after I'm gone. What is really needed is personal portable dishware. In the Middle Ages, didn't folks travel with their own knife, spoon, and bowl? This is a design challenge waiting to be met and perhaps one of you folks working in a university would like to sponsor such a contest. Wendy Brawer of Green Map here in NYC is always suggesting contests as a great way to do something and generate publicity opportunities - announcing the contest and then celebrating the winners. Ideally, such portable dishware and mug would not be plastic. I have a collapsible plastic cup, but I always wonder how safe it really is to eat and drink from plastic. (Not that we really need another thing to worry about.) Nontoxic collapsible or stacking portable eating and drinking equipment that we could all carry around and negate the need for most takeout one-time use materials.

Yours in hoping for a more sensible world,
Lois in NYC

www.neighborhoodenergynetwork.org
www.tristatefoodnotlawns.org
www.greeningablock.org 

 

Dear Folks:

http://www.ilea.org/lcas/hocking1994.html

Sturm, Lois M.

I came across some interesting promotional material - recycling/reuse messages, slogans, etc - that caught my attention & triggered recollection of the various posts on the Paper Cup Challenge. Found on the website of Midpoint International Inc: www.midpoint-int.com Once you enter the site from the opening page, go to the "Recycling Programs" section and check out the variety of resources. I found a lot of useful material.

Marilyn Sobanski

Rainbow Recycling
Black Mountain, NC
[email protected]