The window is closing on a drive to collect second-hand mugs by April 1.
Led by the startup Alternative Spacemakers group of UVic students, the plan is to acquire reusable mugs ahead of their Break Up With Your Paper Cup Day on Wednesday, April 3.
Members of the Alternative Spacemakers will then be at the Bibliocafe to provide the second-hand mugs to students who purchase coffee to go, in an effort to break the habit of single-use paper cups.
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“What we’re hoping for is that people who’ve forgotten their mug (that’s what we prefer to believe) can borrow a mug for the day,” said Karli Mann who started the Alternative Spacemakers with Jamie Ball, Emma Ulveland and Fina Berndt. “The mugs can be returned after class or at the end of the day, but also, if they don’t have one and want to use one, they can keep it to use.”
Along with a mug, the advocates will also lend coffee getters some startling statistics, such as the estimated number of 3,000 paper cups end up in UVic’s landfill waste per day.
“And yes that’s even though there’s recycling,” said Mann, a UVic environmental studies student. “Recycling itself is being exposed as a golden myth, it’s still wasteful and harmful to the environment to be recycling this much.
“People need to take an extra few seconds to get their [reusable] mug before they leave, and do away with the convenience of a coffee in a paper cup.”
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In the meantime, dropoff boxes for reusable mugs (even ceramic mugs are accepted) are collected until Monday, 11 a.m., in the main floor of A Wing in the David Turpin building (top of the staircase), at Clearihue in the A/D Wing lobby, in the Bibliocafe and one in the SUB.
Throughout the week Mann and others will be out and about promoting Break Up With Your Paper Cup, including appearances from Muggo the reusable mug mascot.
“The hope is to support UVic in their journey to become a waste-conscious campus, to advance environmental awareness amongst the student population and faculty here,” Mann said.