Bring Your Own week: BYO mug and glass

This week's eco-topic: Bring Your Own

It's not just that I don't like disposable cups. It's more that those cups don't like me. If it's hot coffee, the plastic lid never quite stays on properly and I end up either getting burned or spattered with coffee. If it's a plastic cup, the slightly cracked one is always the cup I end up with. Many a shirt has gotten wine-sprinkled.

But no longer! Now I carry a spill-proof coffee mug with me when I go out for a cuppa -- and not only do I remain stain-free, I save myself some money. Starbucks gives you a dime off for BYOing, for example, though people rarely take advantage of this.

I'm not a fan of Starbucks, though -- I prefer local coffeehouses with all organic coffee like Urth Caffe -- which, BTW, gives you a whole quarter off for showing up with your own mug.

Yes, sometimes I do forget to tote my cup -- in which case I'll sit down to enjoy a cup of coffee in the shop's ceramic mug. Just make sure you specifically request a mug when you order, because many coffeehouses -- especially chains -- default to disposable cups unless otherwise specified.

I'm the proud owner of not just one, but two to-go coffee mugs. Both came free -- one from Anna, the founder of nonprofit Bring Your Own, and the other from fair trade coffee company Equal Exchange.

Mugs are, in general, popular event freebies, so chances are, you already own one -- You just need to get into the habit of using it. But if you need to buy one, go for stainless steel, as some plastics leach chemicals. Plus, as Umbra of Grist points out in a really wonky piece that compares all sorts of cup options, plastic mugs get dingy more quickly: "Stainless, on the other hand, will hold the sleek, successful lawyer look over time."

Of course stainless steel doesn't make the sexiest wine container -- which is why bringing your own wine glass is gaining popularity. OK, by gaining popularity, I mean that my friend Summer does it sometimes. She names four perks to doing so -- the most important, IMHO, being this one: "Bigger portions of your favorite beverage."

This trick may not work so well at a crowded bar -- and I'd feel uncomfortable bugging a bartender to fill up my own glass. My solution is to generally patronize bars that serve in real glasses. But using glassware is quite easy at friends' house parties -- even the ones where everyone is drinking out of those nasty red plastic cups. I've actually gone rummaging through my now-boss Tony Pierce's kitchen at one of his parties so I could drink wine like a civilized environmentalist.

The one downside: Now when I spill wine on my clothes, I can't blame it on the cracked plastic cup.

Photos by Siel

Comments

[m]

You may also want to consider whether you will ever possibly need to re-warm the liquid in the cup with a microwave. Metal is not so happy in that situation. I'm not such a huge coffee fiend, but i use my big ceramic mug nearly every day at work for meals and for tea and a stainless steel wouldn't work for those purposes.

...and as a side note, has anyone successfully moved their work from paper cups to some sort of reusable cups? The number of cups my coworkers go though is insane and expensive, so we are trying to convince my company to buy some sort of reusable cups. The group we would probably try to conquer first is about 60 individuals. Some people are pretty willing to jump on the green bandwagon while others really don't care. We have a dishwasher and sinks w/hand washing supplies available. Some of our concerns include:

Does each person get a dedicated cup? Should there just be a huge community supply of cups? Should everyone gets their own and have a smaller community supply to supplement guests, new employees, lost or damaged cups? (There is plenty of cabinet space for storage)

If there is a community supply, how do you prevent people from taking more than their fair share or throwing them away when they don't feel like cleaning the cup?

If there is an individual supply, what materials would be best to personalize so everyone doesn't get confused w/identical cups? What method of unique identification seems to hold up best to repeated washings?

Do you still keep around disposables for "emergencies"?

[Siel]

It's been a while, but back when I worked in an office, myself and a lot of coworkers had mugs at our desks that we used each day. It wasn't even a conservation issue so much as everyone's general habit.... Do people not do that anymore? I believe there were a few extra mugs in the kitchen for guests -- Those got cleaned by the cleaning people who came in at night....

I've always found that coffee tastes v. weird when it's re-warmed in a microwave.... That plus the fact that I don't have a prob finishing my morning cup means I've never had to deal with the stainless steel / microwave prob :P I hear what you're saying though. If I worked in an office again, I'd just use a ceramic mug --

[bravina]

I went to McDonald's with my own cup and they said they are not allowed to fill up cups from outside. So I don't think many places fill a cup you bring.

[Siel]

Hey bravina -- Yep, it's tough with the behemoth fast food corporate franchises :( Most coffee shops (local places plus Starbucks, Peets) will fill your cup though --