Written by: Catalina Ruiz
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida began the 2015 University Challenge that promotes the reduction of waste from disposable coffee cups on Monday.
This challenge is a four week campaign created by Kill the Cup, the largest reusable cup campaign in the United States, that encourages students, faculty and staff from universities across the nation to reduce their waste by using reusable coffee cups, according to the Kill the Cup website.
UF will compete against 15 universities to see which one can serve the highest percentage of drinks in reusable cups at their participating coffee shops, according to the Kill the Cup website.
Greeks Going Green and the UF Office of Sustainability paired up with the Starbucks in Library West because it is the shop that receives the most revenue on campus, Layne Marshall, the vice president of Greeks Going Green, said. Their hope is to increase the use of reusable cups and to decrease the amount of disposable cups that end up in a landfill, Marshall said.
Coffee “cups go to the landfill. They have a lining that keeps the coffee from seeping out; therefore, they are not paper or plastic. They cannot be recycled,” Allison Vitt, outreach and communications director for the UF Office of Sustainability, explained.
Through social media, tabling, outreach and word of mouth, Greeks Going Green and the UF Office of Sustainability hope to reduce waste and promote reusable cups, Rachel Reiss, president of Greeks Going Green, said.
“Most people think that disposable cups are bad just because they end up in landfills, but there are CO2 emissions involved with their production and transport,” Reiss said.
The winner of this competition will earn $1000 to implement a social project within their university, Reiss said.
“UF’s current reusable cup rate is 3.2 percent,” Vitt said. It is hoped that within these four weeks, this number increases, Vitt said.
“We are all very excited to be working together to make our campus more sustainable and we hope to be an example to all UF students,” Marshall said.
This challenge is a four week campaign created by Kill the Cup, the largest reusable cup campaign in the United States, that encourages students, faculty and staff from universities across the nation to reduce their waste by using reusable coffee cups, according to the Kill the Cup website.
UF will compete against 15 universities to see which one can serve the highest percentage of drinks in reusable cups at their participating coffee shops, according to the Kill the Cup website.
Greeks Going Green and the UF Office of Sustainability paired up with the Starbucks in Library West because it is the shop that receives the most revenue on campus, Layne Marshall, the vice president of Greeks Going Green, said. Their hope is to increase the use of reusable cups and to decrease the amount of disposable cups that end up in a landfill, Marshall said.
Coffee “cups go to the landfill. They have a lining that keeps the coffee from seeping out; therefore, they are not paper or plastic. They cannot be recycled,” Allison Vitt, outreach and communications director for the UF Office of Sustainability, explained.
Through social media, tabling, outreach and word of mouth, Greeks Going Green and the UF Office of Sustainability hope to reduce waste and promote reusable cups, Rachel Reiss, president of Greeks Going Green, said.
“Most people think that disposable cups are bad just because they end up in landfills, but there are CO2 emissions involved with their production and transport,” Reiss said.
The winner of this competition will earn $1000 to implement a social project within their university, Reiss said.
“UF’s current reusable cup rate is 3.2 percent,” Vitt said. It is hoped that within these four weeks, this number increases, Vitt said.
“We are all very excited to be working together to make our campus more sustainable and we hope to be an example to all UF students,” Marshall said.