Disposable Society?

Check out this post from an anonymous campus community forced to do a waste audit...

The amount of coffee cups contaminated at Fauteux Hall, in the Faculty of Law building, is shocking and depressing. How difficult can it be to properly empty out the left-over coffee from the cups and throw them in the correct bin? It may mean nothing to you but it means the world for the person sorting out these cups. Everyone complains about the environment, but some people still don’t recycle properly on campus.

Wondering what happens to your coffee cups after you are done drinking? I bet you’d say they are recycled, right?! That's true, except, many coffee cups still end up in landfills. Most coffee cups processed for recycling still have lots of coffee in them because people don’t throw out what’s left, which unfortunately contaminates the cups. The contaminated cups—where the coffee liquid has deeply penetrated the layer of the coffee cups— end up in garbage bags destined for landfills while those in good condition are recycled.

Unfortunately coffee cup lids are not recyclable so someone must remove these lids by hands and make sure all cups to be recycled are clean inside and not contaminated. The left-over coffee in the coffee cups are thrown out and the rest, recycled. Next time, to help save our planet, when you buy a coffee, please make sure you empty your coffee cups and recycle properly. We can’t do it without you, we need you.

Thank you!

- Anonymous