Plastic-free Coffee
Hi! Did I scare you away with my previous post? No? Excellent.
On my very tough quest to reduce single use plastic, I decided to take a li'l look at what I use the most on a day to day basis. On the top of the list is single-use coffee cups.
The best cheap coffee available to me is in the company cafeteria, where we can get a big ol' 16 oz Starbucks drip coffee for $1.50. Nice!
Problem.
these paper with plastic lining cups have sort have been collecting on my desk. I want to use a reusable tumbler, but the cafeteria ladies are very surly. Basically I am afraid of pissing them off by not using the OFFICIAL DISPOSABLE CUPS and making their days just that much harder.
Terrible solution 1: Once or twice I kept the disposable cup and used it a second time... feeling like a sneaky criminal smuggling in the dirty (I rinsed it) paper cup. And then I kept noticing these cups disappearing at night. I guess the cleaning crew correctly identified them as garbage, not allowing my denial fantasy to continue further.
FOILED!
Slightly better solution 2. I brought in a ceramic cup. Also not an official size and I am afraid to bring it to the cafeteria for convenient coffee. I should grow some lady balls and just use it one of these days.
Oh well. We have a kitchenette on my floor with a coffee dispenser. "I will use the coffee station on my floor with my ceramic cup and avoid plastic that way" I think optimistically.
I put my cup in the dispenser on our floor and realize, d'oh... this machine uses a big plastic single use k-cup like thing, shooting boiling hot water through plastic for you to consume. So not only is it wasteful, it's probably giving me cancer.
FOILED AGAIN!
Maybe the best so far Solution 3.
Ok since we'd better just admit the fact I will not face the wrath of the cafeteria ladies, how can I get my morning fix of coffee? We have a ChemX glass coffee pot at home. Sometimes I even make coffee in there. This morning I made some and brought it in my old and paint-chipping off thermos. Really not that convenient or chic, we'll see if I can actually keep this up as a habit.
Also, to get coffee that is actually delicious, we got a bag of beans from our favorite Gregory's Coffee.
The beans come in a plastic bag.
FOILED THRICE!
There is a positive side note!
Because I started a little freezer compost bucket (after trying to cut out some plastic garbage bags), I am becoming aware of things that are compostable, like ... score, coffee filters and grounds!
So... maybe some progress.
I should probably figure out whom to speak with about greenifying (is that a word? No?!) our office coffee solutions. Because why should the default coffee fix fulfilment be terrible for the environment?
I am just slightly concerned I am turning into that certain type of New York Matron at Whole Foods who spews verbal poison at a poor clerk over the lack of her favorite organic cocoa in bulk.
Next time... lunch! Can I figure out a way to still have something not wrapped in plastic that's tasty and convenient and preferably marketed to me without me making every damn thing myself. I am lazy, lazy, people!!
On my very tough quest to reduce single use plastic, I decided to take a li'l look at what I use the most on a day to day basis. On the top of the list is single-use coffee cups.
The best cheap coffee available to me is in the company cafeteria, where we can get a big ol' 16 oz Starbucks drip coffee for $1.50. Nice!
Problem.
these paper with plastic lining cups have sort have been collecting on my desk. I want to use a reusable tumbler, but the cafeteria ladies are very surly. Basically I am afraid of pissing them off by not using the OFFICIAL DISPOSABLE CUPS and making their days just that much harder.
Terrible solution 1: Once or twice I kept the disposable cup and used it a second time... feeling like a sneaky criminal smuggling in the dirty (I rinsed it) paper cup. And then I kept noticing these cups disappearing at night. I guess the cleaning crew correctly identified them as garbage, not allowing my denial fantasy to continue further.
FOILED!
Slightly better solution 2. I brought in a ceramic cup. Also not an official size and I am afraid to bring it to the cafeteria for convenient coffee. I should grow some lady balls and just use it one of these days.
Oh well. We have a kitchenette on my floor with a coffee dispenser. "I will use the coffee station on my floor with my ceramic cup and avoid plastic that way" I think optimistically.
I put my cup in the dispenser on our floor and realize, d'oh... this machine uses a big plastic single use k-cup like thing, shooting boiling hot water through plastic for you to consume. So not only is it wasteful, it's probably giving me cancer.
FOILED AGAIN!
Maybe the best so far Solution 3.
Ok since we'd better just admit the fact I will not face the wrath of the cafeteria ladies, how can I get my morning fix of coffee? We have a ChemX glass coffee pot at home. Sometimes I even make coffee in there. This morning I made some and brought it in my old and paint-chipping off thermos. Really not that convenient or chic, we'll see if I can actually keep this up as a habit.
Also, to get coffee that is actually delicious, we got a bag of beans from our favorite Gregory's Coffee.
The beans come in a plastic bag.
FOILED THRICE!
Because I started a little freezer compost bucket (after trying to cut out some plastic garbage bags), I am becoming aware of things that are compostable, like ... score, coffee filters and grounds!
So... maybe some progress.
I should probably figure out whom to speak with about greenifying (is that a word? No?!) our office coffee solutions. Because why should the default coffee fix fulfilment be terrible for the environment?
I am just slightly concerned I am turning into that certain type of New York Matron at Whole Foods who spews verbal poison at a poor clerk over the lack of her favorite organic cocoa in bulk.
Next time... lunch! Can I figure out a way to still have something not wrapped in plastic that's tasty and convenient and preferably marketed to me without me making every damn thing myself. I am lazy, lazy, people!!
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