#4 Cups
An easy switch
Season 1,Episode 4
A very informative discussion with Plastic Pollution Coalition founder Dianna Cohen. Three California girls talk about how walking and swimming the local beaches have inspired them to take action on a big problem. In this episode’s topic of “THE CUP” Sofia and Michelle are joined by special guest Dianna Cohen ( Plastic Pollution Coalition ) and discuss hacks and facts around our relationship with cups as well as how plastic pollution affects lower-income communities, petroleum, ethylene, fracking, plasticize, biphenyls, phthalates, impacts on human health, compressed polystyrene, neurotoxins, brand audit data, polymer chain, how using a non-plastic reusable cup is better for health and may save you money, and what's in Dianna's bag. Hey, Get that china or fancy set out and use it.
PS. we recycle less than 9% of our trash and that percentage is dropping. We hope this episode helps you to rethink your relationship with your cups.
The Blog Post
I'm finally finishing writing the blog post for Episode 4 of the Zero Waste Life Hacks Podcast. I'm also feeling super grateful for the fact that Michelle brought me as her guest to the 10th Anniversary Celebration for the Plastic Pollution Coalition fundraiser dinner. I'm just really appreciating the fact that we literally had dinner with "The Dude", hung out with many colleagues I've been working alongside for many years and finally found out what lies behind that Bel Air home on Sunset with all the sculptures of people in bronze.
Why is all this worthy of mention you might ask? Well, Dianna Cohen Co-Founder of The PP - Plastic Pollution Coalition just happened to be our guest for the cups episode #4. So, I guess the timing for this recap is just right after all.
Before we get into facts and hacks around THE CUP…..
…. I'm going to give you all a quick view of what it's like for me to be a mom, entrepreneur attempting to walk the talk (sometimes failing). Back in April, I got some freelance work at a cool music festival in California. For 3 full weeks out of the month, I was in the desert 5 days a week, coming home to sleep in my bed for two nights and then heading back out. In those two days, I was at home each week, I was taking my daughter to school, getting groceries for my kids' lunches for the week, prepping meals for the sitter, taking my son to baseball practice, the dentist and either prepping or cleaning up from one of my zero waste gigs. April was a whirlwind. It took me a solid week to recover from my desert experience and as soon as I did, it got busy again. Daily calls with potential clients, finally working out every other day, events, but mostly it was just me trying to be as present as possible for my kids.
You might be thinking, what does this all have to do with a blog post about cups? Well, while at this music festival, of course, I wanted to create all this amazing content for my Instagram, the podcast, this blog post, etc. My goal was to document my experience carrying around my handy stainless steel cup to all my meals while at a music festival. Showing all our followers and supporters how easy it is to #refusesingleuse and go #plasticfree . The caterer at this festival had an amazing set up every time and I loved going there instead of eating from the vendors because at lunch and dinner they offered the option of reusable plates and utensils for dining in, but disposable cups. When I remembered, or if I could, I would sometimes even bring my little tiffin to store a pastry or some other yummy snack for later. By the way, one of my favorite #zerowastelifehacks, packing a snack for yourself, is great because you eat stuff you like and don't have to waste time waiting in line or money on crap or overpriced treats. After a busy, long, day working, it felt so nice to sit and eat and use the real stuff. So basically, I had a plan to post something daily on my Instagram feed or story about how easy it is to be zero waste. Just one post daily. An effort was made. But as many of my friends know, I always forget to take pictures. (Shout out to the photographers and people that love to document special moments - our societies collective memory depends on the images you capture). So no pictures = no posts.
So while I'm working this music festival, I carried a reusable water bottle which was attached to my fanny pack 24/7. Without this bottle attached to me, I am sure I would have suffered from heat or sunstroke. As I soon found out with the cup, when you carry your own water bottle around, sometimes you put it down and walk away. Perfectly normal. But when you put it down, move on to the next assignment it's literally 100 degrees and then you have to travel vast distances to retrieve the misplaced beverage receptacle, the endless supply of ice-cold waters in a single-use plastic bottle starts to sound somewhat appealing. Nevertheless, I resisted the urge to use a plastic water bottle and instead endlessly refilled my own. Only contributing to the plastic pollution problem when I drank my daily Gatorade (a must in hot weather). Don't judge. My body needed it.
So yes, I brought with me to this festival a reusable stainless steel cup. It has a lid and silicone sleeve from another one of my glass coffee cups that broke, so it works for both hot and cold beverages. As much as I tried to bring my cup with me to every meal, sometimes it just didn't happen. I would end up in someone else's golf cart while my cup was in the glove box in my golf cart. You think you are going to take a break at a certain time but then get wrapped up on a mission. So rather than trekking across a giant field for the cup you left back at HQ, you succumb to the fact that you can't always be perfectly zero waste. And that is OK. At every meal break, I wanted to walk the walk and not just talk the talk but sometimes it just wasn't possible. I realized that in this particular scenario, I needed a backpack to fit all my supplies. I had a water bottle clipped onto my fanny pack with my to-go ware set inside. Then I would go to lunch and feel so bad for not having my cup with me. At times I even considered not getting a drink because I didn't want to use a disposable cup. I felt like such a hypocrite cause I now have this platform to tell people how easy it is to make simple changes to avoid single-use plastic but I was still using a plastic cup. And once, I even worried about what my peers would think if they saw me drinking from a plastic cup "falling off the bandwagon" - just one time. Then I took a sip of that yummy agua fresca and quickly got over any worry of the haters.
So basically this whole post is to remind you that you need to LET GO OF GUILT. Keep failing, learn, and try again. Guilt doesn't help, it just keeps us from taking action to improve and modify behavior by revisiting the emotion associated with past mistakes. If after discovering the many harmful truths behind plastic you aren't feeling any sort of guilt, not even a tiny bit guilty for drinking out of a plastic cup without a second thought, you need to check yourself. Not saying you need to feel guilty for drinking from a plastic cup. I mean it would be a good idea to just become generally more aware of what is up with your cup? I have to constantly remind myself that this regenerative journey I'm on is about progress and not perfection. But sometimes, I still feel guilt. Pretty sure we are the only species that dwell on guilt and have a hard time just adapting and moving on.
So yeah, especially let go of guilt when it comes to situations you cannot control. Think of how many millions of people want to live a plastic-free life but depend on prescription medicine. Just do your best. Choose what is best for YOU. Remember that everyone is on their own path and we don't need to judge each other. We can all share solutions and spread knowledge and information. .Just try not to be preachy.
Quick Cup Hack:
If you are dining at a restaurant, waiters will 9 times out of 10 or always, bring you a plastic cup with a lid and straw if you order a meal for your kid. Remember to ask the waiter to give your kids their drink in a regular cup. Sometimes they even bring the water for kids like that. It's really simple really - we just have to remember. And we all know how memory can be such a tricky thing. Luckily my kids are 7, 11 and 14 so they can also ask the waiter to put their drink in a regular cup and have gotten into the habit of doing so. Yay!
So in conclusion:
Cheers to those who remember to bring their own reusable cup everywhere!
Cheers to those that try!
Cheers to those that don't even try! It's not too late - try it - just one time
Cheers to all!
Not sure why this blog post ended in a rhyme. LOL
Credits
Thank you to our sponsors Chico Bags, Etee & Haute Mobile Disco
This Episode's playlist was curated by our co-host & producer DJ Lady Sinclair . To hear the curated playlist CLICK HERE!
If you would like a Zero Wast consultation or want to make your next event zero waste, reach out to our host Sofia via her company www.zerowasteco.com
