Years ago, I would occasionally use styrofoam coffee cups while camping. There convenient, they are one less dish to wash. Despite what the greenies will tell you, in a hot fire, styrofoam burns fine. It’s cheap, and it doesn’t involve cutting down trees. Then I switched to a regular coffee mug, as I like the feel of the mug in my hands on a cold morning at camp.
After a while I started getting tired of washing the coffee cup, but I want a disposable, e.g. that I could discard and burn, and that I could take in the truck to sip coffee. I got these plastic-coated paper cups with lids which were quite nice, but relatively expensive. I used up the paper cups but still had lids, so I was thinking I could get some cheap styrofoam cups, and use them with the lids. They don’t fit, and I hate how they feel in my hands, and how they make the coffee taste.
![Untitled [Expires June 23 2026]](https://i0.wp.com/andyarthur.org//data/photo_021736_large.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1)
I went back to the old ceramic coffee cup to enjoy my coffee up at camp. They aren’t that hard to wash. And maybe go green, and use a reusable cup in the truck. Coffee cups are easy to rinse out, they are much less of a pain then plates, which I think I will continue to use paper or foam ones that are disposable and burnable up at camp. I figure if they aren’t going to the landfill because I’m burning them, I don’t have to feel guilty about using them once and tossing them, although I guess you could argue that your still wasting the chemicals and trees that make up the styrofoam or paper plates. But so be it.
