Do the Reuse Challenge

This post brought to you by Aladdin. All opinions are 100% mine.

What is the Aladdin Do the Reuse Challenge?

The Do The Reuse Challenge is a 30-day commitment to give up disposable paper cups, water bottles, and/or food containers. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate in the challenge, and nine families will be blogging about their experience on Aladdin’s Do the Reuse website.

Why?

There are so many reasons to reduce and reuse, from cost savings to environmental benefits. Here are a few statistics:

• Seven million barrels of oil are used to produce the disposable bottles Americans go through in one year.
• In the United States, 50 billion disposable water bottles are consumed per year; 137,000 per day; 1,585 per second.
• It costs about $165 a year to make drip coffee at home versus $636 to buy drip coffee at your local cafe?.
• Unless we change our habits, 23 billion paper coffee cups will be thrown out in 2010.
• Nine dollars will generally cover a decent lunch out. If you buy rather than pack a lunch five days a week, you shell out about $2,350 a year.

How?

Aladdin is challenging their bloggers and anyone else who would like to make an impact for the better to reduce waste by reusing coffee cups (use a mug instead of paper), water bottles (instead of a single-serve water bottle, use a washable one), and lunch containers (pack a lunch instead of ordering take-out). Ready to take the challenge?

I love that this challenge is specific and simple. I admit that over the last few months, while my dish washer has been broken, I have been very tempted to use disposables, simply to save myself TIME. But the waste (especially with a family of seven) adds up fast. I have always prided myself in recycling more than I throw away. I figure that if I’m reusing the majority of the things we use, I’m doing well. It’s been a lot harder to keep up that ratio during this hand-washing period. I’m ready to take the challenge, though. A few minutes of extra work is good for the environment and good for the soul.

Another thing that I have vowed to do, since we all detest sticky hands at dinner time, is to buy washable napkins and get rid of the paper napkins. I might even challenge the kids to learn fancy napkin-folding techniques. I hear that CandyMan was a pretty talented napkin folder in the day…

What’s next?

By accepting one of the Do the Reuse Challenges you’ll be able to get discounts and free shipping on selected Aladdin products like mugs, bottles and snack containers. Cool. Even more money saved.

Visit Aladdin on Facebook to follow the challenge!