ZGreen Cup Challenge Winner Announced
Aspen Used 1895 reusable cups in one week
Contact: Ashley Cantrell, environmental health specialist, 970-429-1798
ASPEN, COLO. (February 14, 2011) – Which coffee shop in Aspen has the most committed and greenest customers? There was only one way to find out…
“The ZGreen Cup Challenge was a huge success for businesses and their customers. Hopefully everyone will keep bringing their reusable mugs and keep up all the good habits that we saw this week,” said Ashley Cantrell, environmental health specialist with the City of Aspen.
The ZGreen Reusable Cup Challenge began last Monday and ended on Saturday. Tallies were collected each day by City staff members. A total of 1,895 reusable mugs were used at the participating coffee shops.
In the end, it was Peach’s Corner Café that took the win with over 500 reusable cups. Café Ink came in second with over 300 reusable mugs. Aside from bragging rights, the winner and runner up will receive space on a ZGreen banner over Main Street.
Why the challenge? City staff members noticed that the majority of waste in the trash cans around town was paper coffee cups. “A friendly challenge seemed like a great way to raise awareness about the benefits of bringing your own mug,” Cantrell said.
Most paper coffee cups are covered with a thin plastic resin that helps insulate the cup. This lining prevents the cup from being recycled or composted, which means that all those cups end up in the landfill.
To help customers BYOB during the challenge, free reusable mugs were available at City Hall. During the week, the Environmental Health Department gave away 200 mugs.
“Just because the challenge is over doesn’t mean the benefits of bringing your own mug are over,” Cantrell said. “All participating coffee shops offer a discount everyday if you bring your own mug and the savings could be around $200 a year if you drink coffee every day.”
Participants in the ZGreen Cup Challenge included:
Café Ink
Starbucks
Boden’s Butter
Peach’s
The Aspen Corner Store
French Pastry Café
Parallel 15
Paradise Bakery
The City of Aspen's ZGreen Program is a three-part certification and outreach program designed to reduce the environmental impacts of Aspen's citizens, visitors, businesses and events.
Visit www.AspenZGreen.com for more.
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