Sioux Falls’ “It’s Easy to Make an Impact” campaign aims to educate the public on what they can, and can’t, put into the recycling bin. There are a few coffee shops in the city that are willing to give their customers a discount when they bring in their own reusable cups. One of those is Coffea, in downtown Sioux Falls.
Doug Hair has worked at Coffea Roasterie for the past five years, he says being environmentally friendly is one of the company’s top priorities. It’s why Coffea offers its customers a 20 cent discount on their beverages when they bring a reusable mug or cup of their own. “It takes no time at all to rinse out a cup, to wash out a cup after you’re done,” Hair said. “Spend $10 to $20 and you have it, you’re good to go.”
He’s glad to see the city has launched a campaign that can work side by side with businesses to reduce waste. “Resources are limited and everything makes a difference,” Hair said. “If everyone, or even just some people, start to make a change, we’ll be using our resources wiser than we have been.”
Sioux Falls Environmental Analyst Holly Meier agrees. She tells me, bringing awareness to the subject can increase the lifespan of the landfill. “It is super important to try and reduce single-use consumption,” Meier said. “Bringing our own reusable cup is really the best practice that we can promote.” She says the campaign wants to focus on making people realize that what they do does matter. “Sometimes it’s overwhelming, but those individual actions, added up over a full community, really do add up,” Meier said.