Reduce Waste At your Coffee Shop

In America we love our coffee and because of the abundance of coffee shops we can now pick up some quality blends and try many exciting variations without the need to purchase a complicated espresso machine or milk steamer, coffee bean grinder or tea infuser.

Although these Coffee shops are great for our coffee habits, there is a large cost associated with our visits. Beside the obvious financial cost of some of the fancier named coffee concoctions there is a very large environmental cost.

Coffee shops generally serve their brew in hard to recycle paper cups. A good estimate is that Americans throw away 18 billion paper cups every year. Paper and cardboard make up over 40% of the solid waste buried in North American landfills. Of that 40%, a disproportionate amount, is attributable to disposable coffee cups. Add to this waste the plastic lids and straws and cardboard sleeves that many of us use on our paper coffee cups whether we need them or not.

Luckily there are some very easy ways in which we can reduce our waste at coffee shops.
The best way to reduce this waste is to get a reusable mug or travel mug. Travel mugs tend to be better because they come with a lid in case you want to take them in the car and avoid spills and because they are insulated, which means your coffee will stay hot longer. Here are a few tips for using your reusable mug at the coffee shop:

1. Create a personalized travel mug that you will really like. Adding photographs and your name to your travel mug makes it stand out and you will want to use it more often.
2. Bring your Travel Mug with you. It will be of no use if you leave it at home.
3. Know how much liquid your mug can hold. At most coffee shops 12oz. is a Tall or Small, 16oz. is Grande or Medium and 20oz. is a Venti or Large.
4. Order the size drink you want that will fit in your mug. Sometimes you can get lucky and the barrista will fill up your 16oz. mug even if you only ordered a small or tall.
5. Order your drink type specifically and make sure that the barrista does not use a paper cup to write the order on. If you regularly enjoy the same drink get a reusable mug that describes your specific drink order on it and then point your barrista to this description.
6. Unscrew the top of the travel mug before handing your mug over. Keep the lid with you and replace it once you get your drink back.
7. Add your milk and sugar to your cup first before handing it over to the barrista. In this way you will eliminate the waste caused by spilling, if you add these later to an already full mug.
8. Ask the barrista what discount they offer for bringing in your own mug. Some coffee shops offer discounts as high as 30%. Don’t make this your reason for bringing in a reusable mug, just be pleased with yourself for helping to reduce the waste.

If you forget to bring in your travel mug then there are still a number of ways you can reduce waste during your coffee shop visit.

1. If you intend to sit in the coffee shop and enjoy your drink, you do not need a plastic lid. If you do need to take your coffee on the go then hopefully next time you will remember your reusable travel mug.
2. If you should spill any coffee on the counter top, do not use napkins to wipe it up. Ask the barrista for a rag to wipe up the spill.
3. The cardboard collar, meant for hot drinks, can also add to the waste. If you do not need one then do not take one.

Some estimates suggest that if we all use reusable mugs at one of the large chain coffee shops instead of their paper cups we would save more than 1 million tons of wood, 2 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, and 4 billion gallons of water every year. That’s the equivalent carbon dioxide reduction of keeping almost 800 000 cars off the road for at least 3 days.

So get a travel mug and persuade everyone you know to do the same. Make a difference, reduce the waste, get some discounts at coffee shops and feel good about yourself. Make the switch to a reusable travel mug today.

Contact us at support@gogreenmug.com or 714-345-1101, to personalize a mug or mugs for yourself or your business.

Prevent and Treat Mosquito Bites Using Everyday Items

We all have makeshift solutions and homemade remedies that are better for the environment (and often less expensive) than many products on the market.

Visit http://www.altuse.com/ to share your ideas with the green community, and learn other ways you can use everyday products around your home and garden. AltUse is giving away GoGreenMugs as prizes every day this week, so we encourage you all to participate by simply entering your ideas!

Here are just a few examples of how you can prevent and treat mosquito bites this summer:

• Rub a fabric softener sheet on your clothing to repel mosquitoes. Great for working outside or when on a camping trip.


• If you've already been bitten, try breaking open an aspirin and rubbing it on the bite to reduce the itch.

We hope you find their site useful and informative, and that you take a bit of time to share your ideas with the community!

Reduce Waste with Alternative Uses

One of the best ways to reduce our waste is to reuse everything you can. The more we reuse the less waste is created and we cut down on our contribution to global warming and pollution.

At GoGreenMug.com, you know that we are dedicated to reducing our waste and so we are pleased to join up with AltUse to offer a great promotion from the 10th-14th August.

AltUse believe as we do, that by reusing and finding alternative uses for products, we can seriously reduce our waste and reduce the effects of climate change. They enable us to save money and the environment by putting our stuff to use in many different ways. Check out http://www.altuse.com/ to find alternative uses for all your stuff.



The GoGreenMug promotion with AltUse starts Monday. With up to six winners everyday. We look forward to reading your entries.

Pressing for a Global Response to Climate Change

A recent article in Newsweek, http://www.newsweek.com/id/208164 had me thinking of the slippery slope of climate change and where we can go from here.

The problem with global warming is that it starts slowly, melting a little more ice over the arctic each year, but the rate of warming actually increases exponentially as the ice melts, melting more and more of it each year. Ice melt is just one example of why climate change is speeding up. The ice reflects much of the heat back out of our atmosphere. The less ice there is the less heat is reflected and the faster the ice melts. The Newsweek article above explains other ways that warming is speeding up.

The longer we wait to take action and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions substantially the more quickly and urgently we will need to act in the future. At GoGreenMug.com we have already discussed numerous ways in which you can make a difference personally. You know that we sell personalized travel mugs at http://www.gogreenmug.com/ so that you never have to waste another paper or polystyrene cup at a coffee shop or in the office again. We also follow many of the other ideas that we have posted previously.

Unfortunately though changes are required on an even bigger scale. We may be able to personally reduce our emissions and waste but without a global consensus from governments, our personal commitments will not be enough to reverse the effects of global warming.

We have already seen President Obama and congress pass an environmental bill, but we all need to keep pressing to ensure steps are taken on a national and global level to reduce the effects of climate change. Here are a few suggestions of where to start.

1. Send letters or emails to your senators or congressman or elected officials wherever you live. Let them know that this problem is one of your major concerns and as your representative you would like them to press for quick and substantial global efforts to reduce global warming.
2. If you are not sure what to write in a letter, then go to online action networks such as the one run by Surfrider Foundation http://actionnetwork.org/surfrider/home.html . All you will need to do is sign up and then use the action network to submit letters that have been specially drafted for specific causes.
3. Support environmental groups on Facebook and Myspace by signing on to their causes. Large action groups can help to effect large changes.
4. Continue to make the small changes you have already committed to, such as driving less, always using a reusable mug and helping at beach clean-ups.
5. Share this information with your friends and family and get them to do the same too.

Every little bit counts, but remember we are under a time constraint, so whatever you decide to do, do it today.