When I started at Office Essentials, I quickly got into a nice office coffee routine each morning. After a few weeks, I realized just how much trash I was creating every day by simply grabbing a coffee from our breakroom. This made me try to be more environmentally friendly with my coffee, and I thought I would share the process I came up with. So, here are three easy tips to reduce waste while still getting your morning pick-me-up.
1. Bring your own cup
Bringing your own coffee mug means you won’t be throwing away those paper or styrofoam cups every day. Plus, I think everyone prefers a mug over styrofoam any day!
2. Get a family size coffee creamer
If you are a ‘coffee with cream’ person like me, bringing a large container of creamer and keeping it in the fridge means you won’t be throwing away the tiny, individual cups of creamer every day. I found myself using 3-6 single-serving creamers a day! Now, I bring my own and it lasts about three weeks.
3. Pour your creamer first!
Another creamer tip – pour in your creamer before your coffee. This way the coffee “stirs” the creamer in and you won’t have to use a plastic or wooden stirrer. If you’d rather pour your coffee first, just use a washable spoon to stir!
Implementing these three, simple tips have reduced my waste from a cup, 3-6 individual creamer cups, and a wooden stirrer daily, to only recycling a large creamer container every few weeks. Nobody is perfect when it comes to reducing waste, but these little tips steps can make a big impact in the long run!
