If yes, skip the following paragraph in square brackets.
[If no, read me! Flip a Cup was an environmentally savvy program at Nipissing involving Tim Hortons and bright lime green travel mugs. If you wanted to be environmentally friendly (and who doesn't want to be, especially when it's convenient?), you could pick up one of said attractive mugs, order your hot Tim Hortons beverage, then return the cup to designated bins around the campus. The travel mugs were washed and reused continuously.]
Great concept, right? I thought so. Except it had its flaw. A fatal flaw, if you will. People just took the mugs home with them ... mug after mug. Just pick one up, get your coffee, take the mug home. This method still would have worked if the students had brought the mugs back and reused them. But alas, it was not to be.
I have to say I was quite disappointed when this initiative failed. So, I have decided to give you a couple environmental tips for both those of us who bring travel mugs and those of us who don't.
1. If you bring a travel mug, the Tims on campus only charge you for a medium when you get a coffee refill. Great, eh? On days when I know I'm going to need coffee, I bring the biggest travel mug I have and just order "coffee, one milk, one sugar" and they fill it right up to the brim for the price of a medium, when it would actually be a lot more like a XXL (which I don't think is even an option for non-travel-mug customers). So using your travel mug will save you money!
2. I also want to give the Tims on campus special recognition. In my experience, if you take a travel mug to the Tims chains in town, they use a regular cup to measure your coffee, then have to throw the cup out anyway. They may not do this at all places, but they definitely do it at some, and to me that just entirely defeats the purpose and intent of most travel mug users. So props to NipU's Tims peeps.
3. Now, I know double cupping can be necessary sometimes. It makes sense; you don't want to burn your hands and the Tims cups don't exactly have handles you can hold onto. So if you have to double cup your drink, or even if you don't, I just want to make more people aware that Tims cups are actually recyclable. Yep! RECYCLABLE! Isn't that exciting?! So double cup, single cup, iced cap cup--none of them have to be thrown in the trash! I find not many people are aware of this and would prefer to recycle if they were aware of the option.
Well, I'm off to grab a "coffee, one milk, one sugar" on my way to class. Happy Caffeine!
[Photo by and of author; no license infringement]
When I started reading this I totally thought you were going to write about drinking games. I like this better though its a nice change. I don't remember the cups, but maybe it was before I got here or something.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you could recycle the cups! makes senes tho i guess lol. i'll do it from now on. the paper rceycling bins are hard to find tho
ReplyDeleteThey do that? like, they fill the cup and dump it in yours? That doesn't make any sense. What's the point of using a travel mug then? glad nipissing doesn't do that.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad as well.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous1: The Flip a Cup initiative was the year before last, so if you're second-year or below it was before your time.
@ Anonymous 2: They are harder to find, because they're not always with the blue recycling. But there is a recycling bin in the small caf that is ONLY for Tims cups! So if you have time you can hold onto your cup until you detour there.
Well. This makes me think. Too bad it didn't work, but I'm glad Tims does something to help the people who do bring their own mugs.
ReplyDelete