I think I speak for most college students when I say, we know we should help our environment but we don't know what to do. I mean we can recycle all day but it's so much better if we completely decrease the number of single-use plastics we use daily. One easy way I have found to decrease the amount of waste in our environment is to use a reusable Starbucks cup.

Here's why you should do the same no matter how lazy or cheap you are (I'm a college student, I know):

1. You get a discount

We are all ballin’ on a budget but sometimes, my caffeine addiction is more important that the balance in my bank account. Discounts = caffeinated me = more money in my bank account.

2. It pays for itself

On my campus, a reusable cup costs $2. I get Starbucks at least once a day. You get $.25 off of each drink you have made in a reusable cup. My cup will have paid for itself in just one week! So whats your excuse?

3.They are customizable

I’m not artistic, but maybe you are or you know someone who is. So cover your cup in colorful doodles or your favorite quote. Yeah, you could do this on a single-use Starbucks cup, but then all of your hard work, or your friends' hard work, will be thrown into the trash.

4. No one will ever misspell your name again

If you have the curse of having a unique name, a unique spelling of a generic name, or a name that rhymes with something else… you understand. If your name is... I always say “If I had a dime for everytime someone misspelled my name, I would be a millionaire” but now I save 10 cents every time I get coffee and although I’m not getting any richer, I am helping save our environment.

5. Your one cup is saving the world waste on waste

According to Starbucks.com, “Your one cup is saving millions of pounds of waste- In 2011 customers brought their own tumblers into our stores more than 34 million times, saving more than 1.5 million pounds of paper from landfills.” Now close your eyes and think about how much coffee you drink. Now accept that it is socially acceptable to drink that much coffee. Now imagine erasing that many cups of waste from our landfills. Poof! It only takes $2 to make a huge difference.

You might think that buying one reusable cup won't make a difference. In the first two days that I had mine, four of my friends got one as well. So as more and more people see you using your reusable cup and see your discount, they will get their own. So help start this chain reaction and reduce the amount of waste in our environment!