Little Things; Paper Cups

This Saturday I'm running in a 5k near my house. The course will wind its way through a regional park and give the runners a chance to view some nature while they huff and puff. At about the two mile mark the tables will come out and lined up on each one will be rows of paper cups filled with water.

Ignoring for a moment how much water will be spilled and wasted on the ground (that's for another post), I wonder if the organizers of this race and other races realize the environmental effect of their events from all of these paper cups?

According to a post on the Mother Nature Network's website, about 58 BILLION paper cups are used each year. Not all of those are used by runners and walkers at the hundreds of events held each year, but enough of them are.

Why? Most runners use a reusable bottle of some kind when they're training. Why not use one during the race? A couple of years ago my wife and I entered a half-marathon in Richmond. We had reusable water bottles. Carrying the bottles the 13.1 miles didn't slow us down, and not having to jostle at the water table probably helped us by a minute or two.

Granted, to carry enough water to make it through a marathon could be difficult. But again, what do runners do when training? Some of the teams that sponsor runners have water stations along the training course, but even then, the runners frequently top of bottles held in their hands or attached to the waists.

Energy conservationists are making great strides in convincing consumers that doing little things -- swapping out incandescent bulbs, running dishwashers and washing machines while full instead of half-empty -- I think that it's time more of the races around Virginia and the country make a move and reduce the use of those little things, paper cups, and make a big difference on our environment.