April Fools: Campus initiative aims to curb red Solo cup usage

Editor’s Note: This is a satirical story.

The aftermath of a legendary house party features sticky floors strewn with discarded red Solo cups and crushed beer cans. This scene might elicit a sense of pride in the prior night’s events for some students, but environmentally minded students on Pitt’s campus feel differently.

Over the last year, environmental clubs at Pitt have started encouraging students to consider their carbon footprint with initiatives such as Bring Your Own Bag, which sets a maximum free-bag quota at campus dining facilities.

These activists have also stepped onto the party scene with a campaign to reduce the number of red Solo cups students use each semester. The concerned students launched Bring Your Own Cup (BYOC), a new initiative that limits the number of red Solo cups each student uses over the course of a semester.

Senior environmental majors Leila Pots and Daisy Smith began the group after seeing a trash can full of the signature plastic cups at a party in South Oakland.

“In that moment, I realized how much waste we are creating as a campus without even thinking about it,” Pots said. “I feel very passionately that we need to eliminate this problem.”

Smith added that she is concerned because she has seen students recklessly casting aside large quantities of cups and creating mass amounts of plastic waste.

“I’ve seen people use as many as three cups at one party just because they set a cup down and can’t remember where,” she said, “These people are exponentially expanding their carbon footprint.”

The program seeks to set a quota of five Solo cups per student per semester, though Pots wishes students would use even less. If students exceed this amount, party hosts will charge them an additional 50 cents per cup at the door for the remainder of the semester. Students can also buy a ceramic cup that emits the same style and cool factor as a standard red Solo cup.

“Just think about how many cups you’ve used in the last semester. If we could just cut this number in half, it would be a huge step, but eliminating this problem entirely would be ideal,” she said.

Smith suggested that students nurture one cup throughout the semester and carry this single cup from party to party.

Along with the club’s initiative to reduce Solo cup usage, they’re also pushing for the use of kegs instead of canned alcoholic beverages to cut down on the amount of aluminum disposed of on campus.

“If students insist upon drinking from cans, we urge them to have separate recycling receptacles available to their guests at parties,” Smith said.

Pots also pointed out that students could save money by using only five cups over the semester.

“You can share a package with your friends or roommates and save your hosts from buying multiple packages each time they throw a social gathering,” she said.

Blake Klein, a sophomore majoring in business, said he’s not so sure that the BYOC campaign is a logical step for Pitt’s campus.

“I’m pretty sure I would lose or crush more than five different cups before the semester was over,” he said, “I don’t want to pay extra at parties. I already have to pay more because I’m a guy.”

Rebecca Sample, a junior biology major, said she’s worried that using the same cup for an entire semester could be unsanitary.

“I’m concerned that my cup will get moldy and I won’t be able to use it anymore,” Jones said, “Those cups aren’t made for multiple uses. They’re disposable for a reason.”

Pots pointed out that purchasing a ceramic red Solo cup could solve this problem for students and suggests that students wash their cups after each use. BYOC members will be selling ceramic red Solo cups in Towers Lobby this Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m.

“You can even use permanent markers to decorate your cup and make it easier to tell it apart from others,” Pots suggested.

In the future, they plan to team up with Greek Life to sell monogrammed ceramic red Solo cups personalized with the letters of each sorority and fraternity. Smith hopes this will make the campaign more appealing to the student body.

“People need to realize that being environmentally friendly can also be fashionable and cool. You can still have really fun parties without destroying our planet,” Smith said.

Joseph Granola, an environmental studies professor at the University of Pittsburgh, supports BYOC’s initiatives.

“I’m definitely all for anything students do to preserve our Earth, especially South Oakland,” Granola said. “I think that asking students to significantly reduce the amount of red Solo cups they use could be very effective in this pursuit.”

Granola also suggested that students can use leftover alcohol to speed up the process of composting, commenting that “yeast in beer and wine is actually very helpful in composting.”