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Refill, Please. Would you bring your own coffee cup?

In North America & Europe coffee consumption is about 1/3 that of tap water. Globally, nearly 7 million metric tons of coffee were produced last year alone. In 2006, Starbucks reported that they gave out 2.3 billion paper cupsfor use at their stores.

A recent forum started by Pat Coyle, Why Doesn't Starbucks Recycle?, stirred up some interesting thinking from several members of the Smaller Indiana family.

One of the more compelling ideas was to re-use your own coffee cup. The thinking, of course, is that if everyone simply brought their own mug on a continual basis, we would eliminate a lot of waste in Indiana.

While this idea is not a new one, it's also not a well implemented one. So, would you be disciplined enough, would you be bold enough,...

Would you be willing to take your own mug?

Also, we want to know who the biological properties experts are. If you're the expert in bio-degradable/renewable resources, please, let us know. We want to know if creating a 100% bio-degradable coffee cup is possible and what it would take to do so. A "Cradle-to-Cradle" type of product.

Tags: bring, coffee, indianapolis, mug, own, waste, your

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Pat Coyle on September 2, 2009 at 9:09pm

Maybe we should pick a specific day and set a goal to get as many people as possible to use their own cups. Perhaps this would help to set in motion a new trend?

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Permalink Reply by Parke Ladd on September 3, 2009 at 7:51am

Great idea! 1 day, 7000 smaller Indiana people, 7000 coffee cups saved, movement started.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ratliff on September 3, 2009 at 9:33am

I'd be down for that, sounds like a great idea!

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Swineford on September 3, 2009 at 9:21am

I don't know if they still do this, but years ago Starbucks gave a discount (a very small one) if you used your own coffe mug. When I was stopping at Starbucks regularly, I always brought my own. It's not difficult to do and I would rather drink from my own "real" cup than sip from plastic any day.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ratliff on September 3, 2009 at 4:40pm

I was pretty sure Starbucks still offered the discount so I twittered about it.

http://is.gd/2QA0A

If you bring your own mug you receive a $0.10 discount. I need to start actually lugging my mug now!

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Permalink Reply by Matt Barnett on September 3, 2009 at 8:37pm

Nice use of the lingo. Lug Your Mug, Indiana!

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Permalink Reply by Stacey R. Davis on September 3, 2009 at 10:51am

There is several 100% bio-degradable travel mugs on the market now. Late last year I created a program (in my head) for promoting and selling the mugs within a networking group that meets almost every morning. When our meetings are over tall trash cans full of styrofoam cups are left behind. You know it takes 500 years for styrofoam to break down?
With my program 20 oz travel mugs are only $5. If you're interested in helping spread the word or being a part of this program, contact me. I would like to talk with you more about it.

Also, I'd like to let everyone know of an event we're organizing - ILG Green Scenes. It'll be held Saturday, October 26 at Garfield park. We're accepting 50 "green" companies as vendors for a very low cost (below $100). The event is open to the public. We will also have professionals speak about green topics with in Home improvements, health and Lifestyle.

If you're interested in any of these programs please call or email.

Stacey@DavisDesignsGroup.com
cell: 317-697-2781

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Permalink Reply by Pat Coyle on September 3, 2009 at 11:42am

I just sent this note to a couple of local environmental organizations. Thought we could make this initiative even bigger...

I've got an idea and want to see if you'd like to play along:

The idea evolved from this forum discussion on Smaller Indiana: Why doesn't Starbucks Recycle?

Smoosiers picked up on this question and an initiative is taking shape. The initiative has three main threads:

First, get people to use their own mugs rather than disposable for their commuter coffee.

Second, figure out what's stopping Starbucks from offering recycling in its Indiana stores and fix it.

Third, explore biodegradable package solutions.

I'm inviting you to participate because I see a way to leverage this small, tightly focused effort to support your larger efforts on the environmental front. If we can get people thinking about their coffee cups...it's a starting point to talk to them about bigger issues...and even get them more engaged longer term.

We don't have a name for this yet, but for today let's call it:

Coffee Cup Awareness Day (week / month)

What: A special period of time set aside to raise awareness and encourage new behaviors
Who: Smaller Indiana (in conjunction with "environmental" partners?)
Why: duh!
When: TBD - this Fall
Where: Indianapolis (and statewide?)...Starbucks plus local coffee houses

Other: It might be cool to to create our own branded coffee travel mugs...people could buy them and money could go to pay for a commercial recycling program...

This is pretty much off the cuff...and I realize you're both busy with REAL work...but let me know if you see any potential here. I'd love to have your partnership on this project at any level you can participate.

LET'S SEE WHAT THEY SAY

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Permalink Reply by Matt Barnett on September 3, 2009 at 1:50pm

Love where this is going, all.

just some rough name thoughts to chew on for Coffee Cup Awareness Day:

BYO Joe
Carry-Indiana
Carry-In Day
Lug Your Mug
EcoJoe