It’s no surprise that Americans love their coffee. In fact, 54% of Americans aged 18 and up consume coffee regularly. Out of that group, 34% of coffee lovers head over to a specialty coffee shop to get their daily caffeine fix, and a further 29% grab a hot cup of java from fast food outlets or gas stations.
In total, we spend a staggering $18 billion a year drinking coffee, which equals a lot of single-use coffee cups.
As we’ve previously reported, many major coffee chains — like Starbucks — use a polyethylene coating inside paper cups, which prevents them from being recycled.Starbucks alone contributes 4 billion coffee cups to the growing mountain of wasted cups that can take thousands of years to fully decompose.
According to this new infographic from eC02Greetings, there are 50 billion coffee cups that go straight into trash every year. So the next time you head over to your favorite coffee joint, think about this infographic, and consider buying a reusable coffee mug. Just one small purchase can put a dent in a really tall problem.
Based in Southern California, Amy is the sort of annoying hippie you find fermenting pickles and trying to spike her husband's meals with kale. She's also written for The Huffington Post, MindBodyGreen, and The Frisky.
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