I hope not! I actually didn’t realize that this was happening, at least until I read an article by skirsner over at Boston.com. Apparently, some Dunkin’ Donuts customers have made it a practice to ask for an extra Styrofoam cup when they buy iced coffee. Their reason? They use the styro cup to keep their hands dry. Yeah, iced coffee is COLD so the outside of the cup gets condensation. Another reason is that some people say the extra cup makes the coffee cold for longer. Okay.
The writer is right, though. Do we really need the extra styro cup? We may have reasons – most of them for convenience – but the extra cup can do much damage to the environment, especially since its styro! Maybe one person asking for an extra cup doesn’t mean much, but count all the people that do ask for it and you’ll have countless cups.
Another thought hit me – where do these cups end up after the coffee is gone? The chances are they are not even recycled. As the writer pointed out, there are really no recycling facilities in Dunkin’ branches. And do you really think the people who ask for these extra cups will go out of their way to recycle them? I highly doubt it.
So here’s a challenge for you double-cuppers out there. Why not get rid of the habit and use paper towels made out of recycled material to keep your hands dry? Or maybe, bring your own reusable mug to keep your coffee cold. What do you say?
Originally posted on September 21, 2009 @ 2:24 pm