by katlyn manka
​planet forward intern/marymount university

it’s that time of year; time to kill the cup. starting oct. 5, the kill the cup campaign challenges beverage drinkers across the nation to cut their waste production by switching to reusable cups.

founded in march 2013 by drew beal and mike taylor while they were mba students at the rady school of management at university of california, san diego, kill the cup saved a total of 15,440 cups during its 2014 campaign. that’s 253 million pounds of landfill waste, 4 billion gallons of water and 2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions according to the 2014 kill the cup impact report.

with your help, kill the cup’s 2015 campaign may be even more successful at reducing cup waste than in previous years. you can participate in the campaign with your school or office (or sign up to do so, desk jockeys). barring that, kill the cup is looking for coffee shops to start participating in the challenge, too. to participate in your challenge, upload a picture of yourself with your reusable cup during the campaign and don’t forget to tag #killthecup on twitter or check out the campaign on facebook.  

during the challenge, remember kill the cup’s tongue-in-cheek slogan: “if you waste paper cups no one will like you.” ok, that last part might not be entirely true, but the planet will certainly be grateful for your effort.