I Want Paper Coffee Cups

I have one of those tiny flies buzzing around me tonight. It's too fast for me to kill. I must need more coffee if I am this slow. 

Today you could have gotten a free coffee at Starbucks if you brought in a travel mug. I have a travel mug but it makes the coffee taste like plastic and it doesn't fit in my purse. So it is really not very practical at all. I wonder if they would have served my coffee in the regular paper cup if I showed them the plastic travel mug first. Likely not as the whole point was to encourage people to bring their own cups versus continuing to use paper cups. 

However, how green is it to bring your own mug really? 

First, people don't always wash their travel mugs in between coffee stops. The barista at the coffee shop usually rinses out the travel mug with a squirt of hot water. But, is that really enough to make it safe from bacteria and whatever else could be lurking in there? While being sick may turn you a shade of green it is not a good thing for the environment, in many ways. 

A paper cup is easily recycled. At worst it will decompose in your compost if it doesn't make it into the recycling bin with the other paper. A plastic cup can not be recycled, it will not compost and it will not go out with your recycling but will have to be put out with the unredeemable garbage. 

If I have to haul a travel mug around with me I will need a bigger purse. Likely I need a bigger purse already as I am also expected to carry my own grocery/ shopping bags too. I don't have a car to be my second purse or my socially and environmentally conscious beast of burden. I have to carry whatever I need with me on my shoulder all day, while running around from place to place and bus to bus. It may be good for the environment but it is not good for me. I don't like hauling around cargo.