When you're on campus late at night studying for an exam or finishing up a paper, your eyes may start to droop and you might start craving a giant cup of Joe or a triple Red Bull. When you start buying coffee and energy drinks on campus, it easily becomes a habit. That habit can cost you a ton of money, and it can add up to a landfill of cups and cans if you don't have a great recycling program available at your school.
A cup of coffee costs a little over $2. A small Red Bull will run you about the same. A cup of tea goes for about $1.50. If you have just one a day when you're on campus, that will add up to $30-$40 per month. There are a few simple things you can do that can save you money and waste.
Reusable Mugs
One thing you can do to cut down on waste and cost is simply to make sure to bring your own mug. Many campus coffee shops give discounts for supplying your own container. If you always have one on you, you can save about five paper cups, paper sleeves and plastic lids per week.
Have at least two reusable cups at your disposal (see what I did there?). Keep a clean one in your backpack at all times. Get a tattoo on your forehead that says, "Bring Ur Mug" backwards. This way you’ll never be caught empty handed and be forced to use a paper cup.
Bring Your Own Tea
This is primarily a money saver, but it can also be a waste saver if you want to go the extra mile. Campus coffee shops charge around $1.50 for a teabag and hot water. They charge $0.00 for the hot water on its own. A box of organic, fair trade tea will run you around $4-$5. Just bring your mug in, ask for some hot water and supply your own tea.
Contrary to popular belief, tea can pack a decent caffeine punch. Green teas and black teas will help you perk up just as well as coffee, usually without the jitters. It might not pull you out of the funk you’re feeling after last night’s zombie pub crawl, but it takes a lot to wake the dead.
If you want to make this more environmentally friendly, consider packing your own infuser with a home blended tea. Those little boxes and tea bags are waste too. Here’s an amazing tea blend recipe.
Skip the Red Bull
Your favorite energy drink company is taking the tiniest baby steps toward being green. For a giant company that has worldwide distribution and a huge impact on the environment, it’s just moving waaaay to slowly. There are some fantastic natural energy drinks that give you a boost and taste fantastic. These companies also happen to take excellent care of the environment. Sambazon is one of those companies. It was founded on the idea that rain forest farmers could make more money harvesting Acai berries than clear cutting the forest. Their Sustainable Amazon Partnership has accomplished the following to date:
- Create a positive economic exchange for over 10,000 local family farmers by providing an alternative sustainable income source to logging, cattle, and monoculture plantations.
- Promote sustainable development through environmental stewardship on over 1.9 million acres of agro-forestry farms via USDA Organic guidelines, fair trade business practices and wild crop harvesting standards.
- Support women in local cooperatives who make açaí seed jewelry as a means to supplement their income and help bring them above the poverty line.
- Establish and monitor biosocial indicators to benchmark the impact of açaí trade; these indicators continue to show that wild harvesting of açaí has a positive contribution to social, environmental and economic conditions.
- Develop and implement sustainability programs with the local family farmers such as agro-forestry training to demonstrate sustainable use of non-timber forest products abundant on their lands and to help protect biodiversity.
Do you drink Sambazon or bring your own tea to school?
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