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Re-usable Coffee Cups
I think one of the best things someone can do - especially if they like getting a few coffees a week - is to spend a bit of money on a reusable coffee cup that they can bring to the shop with them and use for their coffee, rather than using an excess amount of the disposable cups.
One of the coffee shops in my town that I often frequent has been using biodegradable cups, which is a great step forward, which all businesses and companies should try to do.
Small steps like using your own cup though, can help to cut down waste. 3 coffees a week - which is safe to assume the average person would have from a cafe - equals about 144 cups a year in waste. My town has a population of about 20k people, so that is close to 2,880,000k cups a year... that's ridiculously high for a small town, and while not everyone would drink that many coffees a week, or at all, there are those out there who would drink 1 a day, or potentially 2. So, an average of 3 per person is about right.
I thought it was actually 288k a year, which I thought was mental, but there you go.
Travel Mugs
Another good way to be a bit energy conscious, especially these days when electricity costs are so high is trying to cut down on boiling kettles.
I drink a fair few coffees and teas throughout the day, and there are times when I'm at home doing something where I forget about my cup, only for it to go cold and then I need to go and make a fresh one. However, using a thermal cup can help to keep it hotter for longer and actually helped to cut down on the number of cups I was drinking - because I didn't have to try and finish the drinks before they went cold.
Side Note On The Sustainability Factor
I think that companies and corporations should have more pressure put on them to change their practices and cut down on the amount of plastic bottles they produce.
If alcohol companies can produce countless glass bottles of beer, there is no reason that Coca-Cola and other companies couldn't produce glass bottles for their drinks.
Plastics or at least a lot of them aren't recyclable, and most of them end up getting shipped off to other countries from the recycling centres we drop them into - while we feel that bit of pride that we're doing our part for the world.
Too many people want to point the finger at the public, but realistically, I think we should all be petitioning, and pointing the finger at companies. I don't even care if the bottles cost a bit more than they do now, I think glass bottles of Coke are way nicer than plastic ones.
One thing though, I'll never like cardboard straws... which ironically aren't recyclable.
