Get your caffeine fix, save money, and help the environment
Organized by a team of students from the University of Guelph and backed by Hospitality Services, the latest on-campus green campaign was officially put into motion on Sept. 6, 2016. The campaign addresses the need for eco-awareness in our day-to-day routines, with our coffee and tea consumption habits called to the forefront of current unsustainable consumer practices. Campaign advertisements can be found on the walls and tables of the UC, as well as around campus, explaining the environmental effects that are linked to the use of takeout coffee cups. The subtly placed posters also advertise the money you can save when buying your morning (and afternoon or evening) cup of Joe in a reusable mug.
Hospitality Services will charge any hot beverage as a “small” when you purchase the drink in a reusable mug—which, according to a news release posted to the University’s news portal, will allow the average customer to save up to $150 each year.
“Hospitality Services will charge any hot beverage as a ‘small’ when you purchase the drink in a reusable mug…”
Additionally, when you purchase a hot drink with your reusable mug, you can get a stamp on your “iamreusable” loyalty card or (as a part of a new stamp card program created specifically as a part of the new reusable mug campaign) two stamps on your Hospitality Services beverage card every “Mug’y” Monday.
Customer incentives aside, the greatest factor of the new reusable mug campaign should be noted as being the promotion of the minimization of waste. Since the glue, as well as the wax or polyethylene resin that coats the paper materials used to create the cups, invalidates the possibility of recycling. More eco-friendly biodegradable cups have started to make their way into mainstream café culture, but they still take a considerable amount of resources to manufacture and sell, thus making 100% biodegradable cups the dark horse in terms of takeout coffee containers.
“…the estimated number of disposable coffee cups used each year by Canadians alone was 1.6 billion.”
According to an article published on Jan. 9, 2014 by Simon Fraser University, the estimated number of disposable coffee cups used each year by Canadians alone was 1.6 billion. That is 1.6 billion takeout cups sitting in Canadian landfills, and that number has since grown. In Guelph, the previously mentioned 2016 news release cites around 25,000 cups of coffee being sold each day at U of G alone, with most of them purchased in single-use cups.
The campaign’s student co-leader, Alison Tindall, alongside students Monique Chan, Tasia Wong, and Marion Davies, reportedly worked alongside faculty within a number of programs, as well as the Feeding 9 Billion program started by U of G geography professor Evan Fraser. Feeding 9 Billion is an initiative with a mission to improve both local and global environmental sustainability and food security, which coincides with the primary aim of the reusable coffee cup campaign.
“This campaign will draw on the University of Guelph’s commitment to environmental sustainability, and to inspiring long-term, pro-environmental behaviour in its students and staff,” explained Hospitality Services executive director Ed Townsley, on the U of G news portal.
Photo by Mariah Bridgeman/The Ontarion.