I don’t know about you, but every time I buy a re-usable travel mug I lose it within days. I did this about half a dozen times before I decided the amount of plastic I was going through might be harming the environment more than the few paper cups I’d use at Starbuck’s (I usually have morning coffee at home, after all). Then it occurred to me that the sunglasses principle might have something to do with my inability to hang on to a travel mug. That being, the value I place on the eye wear determines how long I keep it. I’ve discovered that if I really love and look great with my sunglasses I will hold on to them for years, while less coveted pairs have disappeared within weeks or even days. I believe the same to be true with my vanishing travel mugs.

Enter KeepCup which looks like this:

The lovely colour combination and simple design appeal to my esthetic sensibilities before I even think about the environmental benefits, which bodes well for the sunglasses principle. I received my KeepCup from the company, but you can go on the website and design your own…I’m fairly certain I’d hold onto a travel mug I custom-made for myself.

KeepCup is “the first barista standard reusable cup” (because it replicates standard takeaway sizes and fits under the group heads of most espresso machines). Plus:

1. KeepCup users have diverted an estimated 30,000 tonnes of disposable cup waste from landfill
2. KeepCup users have stopped 70,000 trees being felled for paper pulp.
3. International Paper estimates that in the United States alone over 58 billion disposable cups are discarded every year, the majority relegated to landfill. (Oh, it breaks my heart!)

Disposable Cup Facts

• 500 billion disposable cups are manufactured globally every year; that’s about 75 disposable cups for every single person on the planet.
• Half of the plastic used in the world today is for single use items. (Oh, the humanity!)
• The 500 billion disposable cups used in the world each year placed end to end could circumnavigate the earth 100 times.
• World paper use has exploded by 400% in the last 40 years. Now nearly 4 billion trees or 35% of the total trees chopped down are used in paper industries on every continent. (Why is this getting worse instead of better?)
• Very little recycled paper is used to make disposable cups because of contamination concerns. Because most disposable cups are coated with plastic, both composting and recycling of disposable cups is uncommon.
• Most of the world’s paper supply, in fact about 71%, still comes from diminishing forests, not tree farms or the recycling bin.

I am planning to hold on to my stylish KeepCup and stop being part of this easily avoidable waste problem.