Bring glass, stainless steel, or ceramic reuseable.

According to a study conducted by the University of British Columbia, humans throw away approximately 58 billion coffee cups each year. This probably amounts to the size of a 20,000-foot mountain, yet only 1 in 400 is recycled. Considering we do not have widespread recycling bins, most end up as trash. The carbon footprint of making these cups is also massive. It is all very unnecessary. People, just buy a reusable!

We should enact a law where paper and plastic cups are banned, or, at the least, make them each $5 to buy at the consumer level. This will be a deterrent and encourage people to bring reusables.

Aside from the waste aspect, single-use coffee cups pose a health risk because they are lined with plastic layers such as polyethylene (PE) that shed microplastics and trace chemicals directly into hot beverages. 

Alternative cups utilize polylactic acid (PLA) as a plant-based lining which successfully biodegrades in industrial conditions, but studies show that PLA can still shed microparticles when exposed to hot liquids.^[1] PLA is biocompatible and safely metabolized in medical contexts (as in surgical sutures), but ongoing research suggests that ingesting any form of microplastic or its chemical additives via hot drinks carries potential long-term health uncertainties.^[2]

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This is an excerpt of Research and Advice, Fourth Edition, out August 10, 2026

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^[1] Mozo, Ignacio, et al. “Assessing the Environmental and Health Risks of Polylactide (PLA) Micro- and Nanoplastics.” Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 450, 2023, p. 131050.

^[2] Auras, Rafael, et al., editors. Poly(lactic acid): Synthesis, Structures, Properties, Processing, and Applications. John Wiley & Sons, 2010, pp. 65–78.