Plastic Free in the Office + The Costs of the Lifestyle

Greetings friends,

I work in an office. Anyone else who has experience with office materials (or frankly school supplies) knows that it can be quite difficult to avoid plastic at work. And it is. But I have come up with a few things to help just a bit.

First, I'm ditching those silly ball-point pens. You know, like the BIC style disposable ones where you throw the whole pen out when the ink is used up. Instead, I predominantly use fountain pens.

Behold, my beautiful pens!

I got these beauties from my father, who likely hasn't used them in decades, so not only am I avoiding the disposable plastic complex, but I'm also giving new life to something that already exists & still works. I'll admit he gave me a third pen that doesn't work so well. I think there's something wrong with the nib and I'm not sure exactly if it's something that can be fixed or replaced. Nor am I sure where to take it to have it looked at. Anyone out there have experience with fountain pen repair?

They write beautifully and I love them very much. I can get jars of ink at a local variety store for around $10 each and you can also find pens & ink online on websites like Amazon.com. If you're interested in getting some of your own, I'd encourage you to first ask around in your family or community--I bet there are several older adults who have some lying around. If you can't find any hand-me-downs, I'd still recommend getting them second hand, whether online or at a thrift/antique shop. If it's not a collectible it should be fairly priced. I recommend this because it's important to prevent useful items going to landfill unnecessarily. However if you're having difficulty finding used pens or you'd just rather buy them new, it's not a bad idea to support an industry that aligns with Zero Waste ideals.

Secondly, what is a day at the office without a cup of coffee? My office introduced a Keurig individual coffee machine for office use about two and a half years ago and as of this spring it is our only coffee source. At first I refused to use it because I didn't want to use those wasteful little K-cups (individual size packages of coffee in a disposable plastic cup). Not only are they expensive, but I just couldn't condone the mountains of plastic waste that creates every year.  Eventually I bought a reusable K-cup that I refill with a coffee stash I keep in my desk.

My reusable K-cup, stash of coffee, and the delicious product itself (with a healthy splash of cream from my raw milk delivery)

I know, the cup itself is still mostly plastic with some fine metal meshing, so not 100% perfect. With most plastic products I like to think about how it could have been made out of other materials--wood, glass, metal, fabric, paper. It accurately applies to more than 90% of everyday household items. But occasionally I do come across a product that truly wouldn't work if it were made of other materials. I believe the reusable K-cup is one of those items. Wood, fabric, & paper wouldn't hold up to the function of the product. Glass & metal would make it too hot to touch after use and therefore would be a danger to the user.

So why do I use a plastic reusable K-cup if I am trying to eliminate plastic from my life? Because two things: 1) I bought before I decided to go plastic free. My guiding rule is that it doesn't make sense to send a perfectly functional plastic item to its destined grave of landfill/pollution early than called for so I'm going to keep using it until it breaks. And 2) it's a lot better than the alternative. Let me math it out for you. 

I don't drink coffee every day, but I probably average four cups a week. At roughly 50 working weeks a year, that's 200 cups of coffee each year. I've been using this for about two years, so we looking at 400 cups of coffee with my reusable cup, which itself cost me about $12. A pound of whole coffee beans lasts me about two months, and costs about $9 at the local co-op. That's 8 weeks of 4 cups of coffee a week, or 32 cups of coffee to a $9, 1 lb bag. 200 cups of coffee a year/32 cups per pound of coffee = 6 1/4 pounds of coffee each year, at $9/lb = $57 I've spent each year on coffee. I've certainly spent more than that in one month at a coffee shop I used to live by. 

According to a quick search online, it looks like the average box of 32 Starbucks brand K-cup costs about $20, which at 200 cups a year would cost me $125. That's twice what I'm currently spending each year! If we take it a step further and apply these figures to the whole time I've been using the reusable cup, that means over the last two years I've spent $12 (on the cup) + $57 on year 1 coffee + $57 on year 2 coffee = $126. Compare that to the disposable K-cup option over 2 years = $250. Not only am I spending half of what my coworkers are on each cup of coffee at work, but I'm also preventing hundreds of those plastic cups from entering the land fill each year. Talk about a win-win!

I know lots of people worry that any effort of living an environmentally friendly/ethical lifestyle has to be more expensive than the norm. But it's simply not true. Yes, certain products might be more expensive than the normal ones you are replacing. Or you might have to put in more upfront costs (such as buying a reusable cup, etc.). But the culture of disposable, single-use, and/or convenience items is designed to keep you buying items you don't really need at a deceivingly low cost that quickly adds up. 

What do you think? Do you have experience with fountain pens or reusable K-cups? Do you have other tips to cut out plastic at the office? Do you have other examples that both save you money and treat the environment with respect? Please share down below. Until next time, take care.