Did you know you could save money and the environment at the same time? Here’s how it works: get out your mug that is hiding under your bed or in you closet (if you don’t have one the library might have extras) and take it with you whenever you go out to for coffee, tea, hot chocolate or a smoothie. Tell your server that you brought your own cup at any of the following coffee shops in the neighborhood, and they will give you a discount for using a reusable mug.

Dunn Brothers: charged for a 12 oz. drink (most mugs hold more than 12 oz.)

Whole Foods: $0.10 off any size

Caribou: $0.10 off any size

Cahootz: Charged for 12 oz. drink if using a 16 oz. mug

Cosmic’s: charged for smallest size

J&S Bean Factory: charged for 8 oz. if using a 12 oz. mug

Many students buy coffee at the Mac Grillé, but you may notice that it is not listed. Its managers do not feel that it is financially in their favor to offer a discount, having recently invested in 50,000 cups. It will be a long time before the Grille runs out of cups—and even longer if they decide to allow reusable mugs. They will save money by delaying their next purchase of cups, and this saving could be passed on to the customers: Mac students.

Why should we MUG IT? First of all, we’ll save a lot of trees from being chopped down. We will also reduce the amount of waste produced by this campus. On average, an American creates about 4.3 pounds of solid waste every day. Most of this waste goes and sits in landfills. There is also waste leftover from the manufacturing of the cups. Many people believe that their garbage decomposes when it goes to the landfill, but actually, it just sits in the ground. Even worse, the waste might be burnt, which pollutes the air with dioxins, heavy metals, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides while leaving a lot of ash behind.

Next time you go buy coffee or tea bring your mug along and MUG IT!