The author’s reusable coffee mug from Starbucks has many more benefits besides cutting down on waste. (Image: SheKnows.com)
You know that sinking feeling in your stomach when you reach for your reusable coffee mug or water bottle — and it’s gone! You realize you left it behind, but you figure the chances of it still being there are slim to none. So you take the hit and buy a new one.
I forgot my travel mug so many times over the past few years, so I bought a Starbucks reusable coffee cup with a detachable handle, so now it’s literally attached to me wherever I go. Although the $20 investment I made is more than the typical $5 or $10 I’ve spent in the past for reusable coffee mugs, it has paid off more than its investment in so many ways. Here’s why I’m attached to my reusable Starbucks mug in return.
8:15am – Filling My Reusable Coffee Mug With My Own Coffee
Ever since I adopted the habit of filling up my reusable coffee cup with coffee I make at home, I can sleep 15 minutes later every morning. What’s more, I can have more coffee, hotter coffee, and better coffee all day long!
Next time you order coffee, ask for it ‘to stay’ — and you’ll enjoy it more in a real ceramic cup instead of a disposable. (Image: Patch.com)
Each morning, I drop two scoops of ground coffee into a reusable K-cup, and press the brew button. A few minutes later, I’m out the door, coffee in hand!
The Pay-Off: Extra Sleep, Time and Money
- Almost 3 extra days of sleep
Cutting out the trips to Starbucks every work day of the year adds up to nearly 3 days of sleep — or an hour and a half of extra sleep every week!
- 2-1/2 days of waiting time
It used to take me about 10 minutes to get in and out of my local Starbucks, coffee in hand. That adds up to almost 61 hours a year — the equivalent of 2-1/2 days — just waiting around for my coffee! What a waste!
- Savings of $853 (or $1,017) in coffee costs
Erin arrives for work at WeHateToWaste.com with her reusable coffee mug from Starbucks in hand. (Image: J. Ottman)
Add up the numbers. Spending $2.95 a day every day of the year for a small cup of barista coffee adds up to $1,077. However, I can make my own for about $60 a year, which covers the cost of my three, 40 oz. canisters of Folgers coffee grounds (FYI: this will make about 405 12 oz. cups of coffee).
There are, of course, some fixed costs involved which include the cost of the Keurig machine ($120), 3 reusable K-cups ($24), and my reusable cup ($20), totaling $164.
If you add up how much money is saved daily by avoiding the $2.95 barista coffee, these fixed costs will be paid off in only 55 days! So after that (assuming your Keurig stays in good shape) you can save $1,017 on coffee every year. Long-story-short: that’s a lot of money in the bank.
10:07am – Those Last Few Sips from My Reusable Coffee Mug
Nearly two hours after I made it, thanks to my reusable coffee mug, my coffee’s still hot. Contrast this with coffee served in a disposable coffee cup that’s likely to be cold within a few minutes. Now I don’t have to throw away those last sips of perfectly good coffee, either!
The Pay-off: Coffee That’s Hot to the Last Drop, Thanks to My Reusable Coffee Mug
If I wasted a quarter of a cup of coffee every day because it went cold, I would be throwing away about 91 
cups of coffee every year. Now I don’t have to.
3:23pm – Mid Afternoon Pick Me Up
You know the feeling. It happens at around 3:30 every afternoon. So to keep me going, I head over to Starbucks with my reusable coffee mug in hand. I present it to the barista and I get 10 cents off the price of my drink. It’s the discount Starbucks offers to anyone who brings their own reusable coffee cup. Even if you don’t have a refillable coffee mug, you can always ask Starbucks to prepare your coffee ‘to stay’ and they’ll gladly serve your coffee in a ceramic cup.
Their goal is to serve 5% of all drinks in personal tumblers and/or ‘to stay’ mugs in 2015. (They have a difficult time keeping track of the number of drinks served ‘to stay’, so this is mostly focused around to-go cups.) Think of what we all could save if we all requested our coffee to stay.
Erin’s 16 oz. Stainless Steel Clip Tumbler with Handle
The Pay-off of Bringing My Reusable Mug from Starbucks to Work
- Money in the bank
Saving 10 cents a day every work day of the year lands an extra $26 in the bank.
- Less Waste: Greenhouse Gas, Water, Trees and More
Using my reusable Starbucks mug helps me avoid 365 disposable coffee cups each year. According to Clean Water Action (who’s now running a ‘Rethink Disposables’ campaign), for just one person, this helps to prevent 87.6 lbs. of greenhouse gas emissions, 76 gallons of water, 126 trees, and 12 lbs. of solid waste. This stuff adds up!
6:17pm – The ‘Attached’ Part
The nifty handle on my refillable Starbucks thermal coffee cup literally clips onto the handle of my bag. It not only has saved me from leaving it behind countless times, it’s the best portable mug I’ve ever used. Once I get home, all I have to do is rinse it out, park it next to the Keurig, and I’m good to go for the morning.
The Ultimate Pay-off: Peace of Mind
Now I can sleep easily at night knowing that I’m helping to cut down on waste, all the while saving money and time — and having a great cup of hot coffee all day long.
How about you? Are you attached to your reusable coffee cup? What benefits do you appreciate the most?
Posting Guideline – Stories published on WeHateToWaste.com are intended to stimulate productive conversations about practical solutions for preventing waste. Information provided and opinions expressed are solely those of the contributors and implies no endorsement or guarantee by WeHateToWaste. Ed. Note: WeHateToWaste has no commercial affiliation with Starbucks.
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Or you could have saved the $120 from the Keurig machine and the $20 from Starbucks + the cost of the refillable filters and bought a used coffeemaker from a thrift store for $5 and a used travel coffee mug from same thrift store for $1, ensuring in the process that it doesn’t end up in a landfill. Reusable coffee filters are available for coffee makers as well. Result? Same, additional savings: at least $140 MORE AND less items in the landfills. Food for thought…
I was thinking around the same thing! Though some people don’t like cold/old coffee – I guess that’s the draw of the Keurig. I don’t have one, but I know people who love theirs. You could also look at it from another perspective – think how much you’d save if you just didn’t drink coffee, not to mention greenhouse gases (from shipping coffee from far-off places). But thats blasphemy for many people… myself included. I can’t believe I even suggested it. I love coffee! But the environmental factors do bother me sometimes.
On another, another note – this post was awesome. Someone should write a similar one about water! Imagine the savings (economic and environmental) of getting a Nalgene and filling it with free tap water instead of buying water bottles…
Emily –
I would also love to see a similar analysis of water! Especially in a place like New York City where we have such great tap water I’ve never understood the draw of plastic bottles. I think people would be shocked by how much they could save by using a reusable water bottle.
Erin, I absolutely loved this post! The mid-afternoon pick me up is so true… unless I was guilty of having two cups in the morning. Then I’ll try to refrain from any additional java for the day.
You’ve inspired me to write my own journal entry of the coffee mug and water bottle that I carry with me each day. Kill the Cup is challenging 22,000 people to commit to carrying a reusable cup on Earth Day, April 22. We’re definitely going to share your story as an example of the many benefits of living the reusable lifestyle. Thanks again for sharing.
Reusables are great but as this story (link below) explains, the disposable cup in its design and convenience is tough competition and I think we live in a world where like electric, hybrid, fuel cell, clean diesel and gasoline powered cars, the disposable cup has a niche and will coexist with reusable options long into the foreseeable future. So maybe more efforts could be aimed at the manufacturer of the disposable cup to make it a more sustainable product and at the retailer in terms of recycling:
http://gizmodo.com/why-one-kind-of-disposable-coffee-cup-lid-dominates-all-1695511005
Kudos to those like Erin who bring their own coffee to work in a travel mug. Fortunately I just need a kick-start cupful in the morning, and have the luxury of time to finish it before leaving the house. I agree with Mark that there are occasions when a disposable cup is unavoidable, and even preferable for sanitary reasons, so we should make sure they are made and used sustainably as well. (If you can’t achieve zero waste, try for harm reduction.)
I must confess that I am ambivalent about water bottles. I know it’s important to stay hydrated, but I wonder if non-athletes like me really need to carry them with us 24/7. Is it more a culturally dictated accessory than a necessity? I do clamp a reusable bottle to my satchel when I’ve got some lecturing to do and know I’ll need to wet my whistle, but it’s so clunky and requires maintenance to stay clean. Maybe we need a better design, but I wish we didn’t have to “privatize” water and carry our own supply everywhere. As a child, I remember being able to walk from point A to point B and be assured that there was a water fountain at my destination if I needed to quench my thirst. Now we leave the house prepared for a trek in the desert… Or am I overreacting?
I’m a little concerned that all of these containers we’re carrying are too specialized. Why not one hot/cold collapsible cup that we could carry and use interchangeably for hot (coffee) and cold drinks (water) throughout the day. One cup fits all? And the more collapsible / compact the better!
Mark, I do have to agree with you that the disposable cup is unlikely to disappear anytime soon (if ever). The convenience it provides is unparalleled. I think a strong effort towards making these disposable cups more sustainable in terms of manufacturing and recycling is a very necessary step. However, in the meantime, reusable mugs (and water bottles, bags etc.) are a great alternative.
Even more, Jacquie’s suggestion is a great insight into the world of reusables-especially the collapsable part! I agree with Fredrica that the bulky-ness of water bottles and mugs can be very inconvenient. I tend to carry both with me wherever I go, so I am very aware of the amount of space they take up in my bag. This is something that I have subconsciously adapted to, and always have to make sure my bag is large enough to fit both my mug and water bottle. This is where the disposable alternative might come in handy.
There is definitely a compelling argument here for both reusable and disposable, and maybe there is a middle ground we have to find in order to satisfy both.
Erin,
I really like how this post explains all of the cost and time savings a reusable mug gives you. I have saved a lot of money switching over to a reusable mug because I not only use it in the morning but on my way to night classes as well. A solution to the bulkiness problem brought up by Frederica could be something like the Smash Cup ( http://smash-cup.com/ ). This allows you to reduce the size of the mug when you are finished and it can slip easily into your bag! I also agree with Jacquie that there should be an interchangeable cup. Hopefully can see that soon!
Sustainability information on the Solo Traveler lid: https://www.solutionsbysolo.com/About/Sustainability
I think when it comes to the issue of disposables vs. reusables maybe it’s like the scene from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It’s like apples and oranges. Both are fruits, but are they really truly alternatives?
Mark,
I think the REAL solution is for many more people to order their Starbucks coffee “To Stay” – i.e., in a ceramic coffee cup. And as part of that, slow down their lives a bit, and actually enjoy the coffee right there! Maybe even to use it as an opportunity to meet some new folks or enjoy good conversation too.
Jacquie
I love how this article was written! Breaking down the steps and savings of using a cup in this way made it feel much easier to do it myself. One part I wish was included however was the washing. At various times in my life I have tried to consistently use a reusable cup but have always given up because it just gets so gross and is hard to clean. Despite my best efforts, I always ended up with gunk in the impossible to reach ridges. Any tips?
Hey Ruth! I love using my Keep Cup because it is so easy to clean – it’s dishwasher safe! Plus it is pretty much the exact same shape as a disposable coffee cup so there are no hard to reach places. Our family have about 6 of them in our cupboard because we all love using them so much!
Hey Ruth! I have had this same problem in the past with some of my reusable water bottles because the mouths are not big enough to reach your hand in with a sponge. It can be such a pain! My solution was to get a cleaning sponge that has a long handle and bristles on the end, which has made a huge difference in the ease of cleaning. But like Beth said, making sure your cup is dishwasher safe is always an easy way to avoid this!
Great article Erin. I prefer to drink tea, but with either drink, it’s the same. I have a reusable Starbucks cup too. It’s so much more convenient to make my own tea instead of waiting in line for something similar. I feel so much better being able to reuse the same cup over and over again instead of throwing away a paper one.
When I worked in a grocery store I bought a coffee mug for all of the reasons mentioned above, PLUS I could sneak off to the coffee shop for a ten minute break (we got one a shift but sometimes I took a second one before I wrote my order) and when I came back, I didn’t look guilty holding a brand new steaming cup. It was a small win, but worth mentioning!
That was a great read, Erin. I like how you were able to translate your simple change into time, money, and resource savings. I don’t drink coffee, but I can use some of these tips with tea! It’s nice to see some businesses are starting to appreciate efforts of customers to reduce waste. I didn’t know Starbucks did that, but I know at Target you can save 5 or 10 cents on your purchase for bringing your own bag.
I really enjoyed reading this article. I appreciated you going the extra mile and breaking down all of the ways in which you can save money while also making a difference in the environment by preventing unnecessary waste. I always try to remember to bring my reusable cup with me every time I leave the house, just in case I might decide to stop buy Starbucks or one of my other favorite cafes and grab a chai. Another benefit that I find if using my mug is I can fit more of my favorite drink than most non-reusable cups can.
I really enjoyed being able to relate so much to this article! Even though I am not much of a coffee drinker, I am very addicted to my reusable water bottle and tea thermos. Every morning I do not have to think about getting my tea at Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts, I am able to make it at home while saving time and money. By making my tea at home I am also able to save the gas that I would have used to get to these places! I find that by using these reusable bottles I am much more likely to drink water as well. There are so many benefits to these reusable bottles, I think the only reason that people do not participate in these practices is because they feel it is inconvenient. I feel that that is so ironic because I think about my drinks in the morning less than I ever have since using reusable bottles! This is a great article, I wish more people would try out a reusable container to see how easy it really is.
Really enjoyed this article Erin. I can certainly sympathize with that sinking feeling when you realize that you’ve forgotten your reusable, but you really need the caffeine boost! I’m including a link to another article for anyone who might be interested in the break-even points of different types of reusables. I have to fight my tendency to want to collect reusables because the process of making them uses up a lot of resources as well. That’s why it’s important to not lose them and I’m glad that someone was clever enough to create that detachable handle! http://www.portlandoregon.gov/sustainabilityatwork/article/507480?
To follow up on my earlier comment above about the lack of public water fountains (which would reduce the need to buy bottled water OR lug around our own vessels), my daughter sent me this Washington Post article that explains the trend: http://wapo.st/1TlUfr5
I love my reusable mug! It’s drip proof, easy to clean, and perfect to carry around. A few months ago I brought it into a Starbucks on a long car drive to ask for a refill. To my shock and horror – my barista filled up a paper cup, and then poured it the coffee into my mug from the paper cup, before throwing away the paper cup! Needless to say, I haven’t been back to Starbucks since. As you said – coffee from home is tastier anyways!
A few of you have mentioned the inherent waste in having a specific coffee mug, but I actually couldn’t disagree more. Due to human accumulation, it all goes back to the idea that it’s quality over quantity. You (or at least I) am far more likely to use a coffee mug if I buy one that has my exact requirements than if I just buy the first one I see at the thrift shop. If I end up with one that’s less than perfect, doesn’t keep my coffee warm, or maybe is too big for a car cup holder, I’m less likely to use it, and therefore produce more waste than if I had just spent $10 extra for an item I use all day every day. I’d much rather carry around my reusable water bottle and mug together in a backpack and never need a paper cup ever again than I would to have a hot/cold mug combo – what happens if it’s filled with coffee and I need water? If I need two separate items anyways, I’d rather have them perfect for my needs.