Here's one of the easiest green tips ever: skip the stirrer for your hot coffee or tea.
According to California Coastal Cleanup, plastic stirrers rate sixth in the trash found along California's coast. Almost a half a million stirrers have washed up on shore since 1987 when the group first launched its annual surfside scrub.
By simply putting your cream and sugar in first, there won't be a need for wood or plastic wand. Let the hot liquid do the work!
Debby de Moulpied, owner of Real Green Goods, explained to us why stirrers are a real pet peeve for her; she saw how a big city like London lived a stirrer-free lifestyle for years when she lived and worked there in the 80s.
"People still line up the cups for tea or coffee, pour the cream or milk in first as part of preparing the cup, including sugar, and then pour the tea or coffee," she explains. Alternatively, she touts the advantages of a good old-fashioned silverware spoon: "Even in a public venue, employee room, hotel buffet etc, there is a 'real' spoon as the designated stirrer!"
Here's what you can do:
- Start a trend: Ask your barista to add your milk and sugar first, and then pour hot water or coffee over it. Done.
- Think before you grab: Don't automatically take a bunch of stirrers if you are picking up coffee to go.
- Work it: Ask your company's cafeteria manager to simply put out a couple of silver spoons by the coffee station on a couple of small dishes ? or do it yourself when you pass through. Most people will use them if they're there.
Read more about stirrers in this BBC article.
This post was inspired by G-Word.
