Say no thanks to disposable coffee cups, plastic grocery bags, and restaurant to-go boxes. Instead, bring your own reusable coffee mug, canvas tote, and leftover containers.

What’s In It For The Planet?

Disposable coffee cups

  • Americans drink more than 100 billion cups of coffee
    per year.
  • Of the 100 billion cups we drink each year, 14.4 billion are served in disposable cups with synthetic polymer lining.
  • These 14.4 billion disposable cups end up in our landfills because the synthetic lining does not decompose.
  • The average American who purchases 4 cups of coffee each week creates 3.25 lbs of landfill waste each year.

Reusable grocery bags

  • Over a billion plastic bags are given out every single day
    for free.
  • Plastic bag production requires the use of petroleum and natural gas, two non-renewable resources.
  • Plastic bags take over 1,000 years to decompose, and as a result we have the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a 3.5 million ton “plastic bag island” floating in the ocean between San Francisco and Hawaii.
  • Hundreds of thousands of marine and land mammals die each year by choking on plastic bags.

To-go containers

  • Styrofoam containers do not decompose and they also contain a health-hazardous chemical.
  • Not all cities recycle plastic containers. Also, plastic production requires petroleum use.
  • Food-soiled cardboard boxes are not recyclable and most cities do not have composting programs that take food-soiled cardboard.

What’s In It For Me?

It’s easy to walk out of the house and forget your canvas tote, coffee mug or to-go container. We do it all the time. So why would you tie a little string around your finger to help you remember them?

Lots of reasons. For starters, you’ll save more money by bringing your own tote or coffee mug. Many markets and cafes now deduct a few cents off your total bill if you bring in your own wares. You’ll definitely create less waste in your home if you reuse bags and to-go containers, which might even mean a savings on your garbage bill (check with your local waste management group). We know you’ll experience countless benefits to bringing your own, and we’d like to hear about them.

Mastered the art of reuse? Share your story with others who are also taking steps to live greener today.

Finding the Sacred in…Bringing Your Own

A couple years ago I resolved to give up disposable coffee cups for good. I wasn’t particularly attached to taking my coffee to go, and in fact, I loved sitting down in a café, drinking a cappuccino from a real ceramic mug. It simply tasted better. But I rarely created the time in my day for this soothing little ritual. A few weeks after I made my resolution, I set off on an early morning walk before embarking on the workday. I strolled through a couple neighborhoods, climbed a small hill, breathed in the fresh air, and on the way home decided to stop at a local bakery for some fresh bread and a cup of coffee. I planned to take the bread and coffee home with me, but alas, I forgot my own reusable coffee mug. A little guilt tugged at me - I should be home now, sitting at my desk, getting to work, I thought. But instead I ordered my café au lait, picked up a newspaper, and sat down in the warm bakery to enjoy fresh bread and butter. Allowing myself a few moments of quiet and stillness instead of running home to anxiously get to work was a blessing. We so often miss these opportunities when we rush from one place to the next. I appreciate the slowing-down that occurs when we choose to be in our moment, instead of looking ahead to the next. And I’m grateful that the seemingly minor act of giving up disposable coffee cups helped me to experience this sacred moment.
- Moira, San Francisco

Wanna Learn More?

Calculate your own coffee waste with the
Coffee Waste Calculator

Join the Green Café Network

Discover innovative ways to reuse plastic bags

Learn more about the inter-faith Regeneration Project

Read Wendell Berry’s 17 Rules for Sustainable Communities

Find out what one man learned when he
saved his trash for a year

Read about the San Francisco and Los Angeles
plastic bag bans

Read about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Wondered about the Greenest To-Go Container?

Read Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Read Gary Snyder’s Writers and the War Against Nature

Want to know where all your stuff goes? Watch
The Story of Stuff

Wanna Do More?

  • Use recycled or biodegradable/compostable garbage bags.
  • Don’t use garbage bags at home – dump your trash right in the garbage bin if your garbage collector allows it.
  • Request that your dry cleaner leave the plastic liner off your clothes.
  • Give up plastic straws and drink lids.
  • Use biodegradable bags to pick up pet poop.
  • Replace plastic produce bags with cotton mesh bags.
  • Give up bottled water! Opt instead for reusable water bottles like SIGG or Kleen Kanteen.
  • Pack lunches in reusable containers instead of plastic bags and aluminum foil.

Have some suggestions of your own? Share them on HabitChat.