How to make sustainable living your Cupanion

Changing our habits is the first way to change our carbon footprint. Hope College is dedicated to providing students with the education and resources they need to make an impact on the Earth personally as well as campus-wide. The Hope College Cupanion Initiative is one of the practical ways Hope plans to do this; this cup not only allows an individual to produce less waste, but it pairs with the Fill it Forward app, which allows for individuals to be further educated on their impact. With this app, and the Cupanion reusable to-go cups, students, faculty and staff are able to track pounds of waste, power, land space and emissions saved each time they reuse this cup. Individuals are not only able to reduce their personal use of single-use items, but are able to contribute to global water projects that are improving water. Every scan of your cup gives money towards these water projects—you can even watch your contribution grow every time you scan your cup!

Hope College is committed to three concepts when it comes to supporting our Earth and creating a more conscious campus: Reduce. Refill. Rethink. These three R’s define the entire purpose for the Hope College Cupanion Cup initiative. We are committed to reducing our single-use waste: this includes in our dining halls, campus housing and educational buildings. We are committed to refilling and saving the resources on this Earth, including land space, plastic use, waste and power usage. Refilling this cup is a tangible way that we get to do just that. We are committed to rethinking. The Hope College Cupanion Initiative is an effort to rethink exactly what it looks like to live sustainably. These cups allow students and faculty to rethink how they use single-use plastic items, rethink their impact on the Earth through the Fill it Forward app and ultimately rethink how to make small habit changes that can lead to influential changes of our current carbon footprint.

The Hope College Bookstore and The Kletz Market are excited about the opportunity to sell these cups. The Cupanion cup is available for $5 at both locations. Along with the purchase of your cup, you also get a bonus sticker, which can help you to continue filling it forward while using your favorite water bottle!