The coffee is ready. The mug is warm. Before the first sip, though, a little pod or paper filter may already be headed for the trash.

That small piece of waste is easy to miss in a busy morning. Repeat the routine day after day, across millions of kitchens, and it becomes much harder to ignore. An often-cited estimate suggests that up to 29,000 single-use coffee pods end up in landfills worldwide every minute, according to Emerson College. It is an estimate, rather than a live count, but it puts the scale of the habit in perspective.

You do not need a perfect kitchen or a complicated new ritual to start. Keep the cup you love. Look at what you throw away to make it.

Start With the Coffee You Already Brew

If you use a drip machine or pour-over brewer, your filter is an easy place to begin. Free the Ocean carries a reusable coffee filter made from organic cotton. Its #4 cone version fits many 6-to-12-cup drip machines. Free the Ocean recommends a rinse after each use, air drying, and an occasional deeper clean.

Check the size of your brewer before you switch. Then put the clean filter where you normally keep the paper ones. A swap works best when it asks very little of you at 7 a.m.

Your brew size matters, too. A full pot sounds appealing until half of it sits cold by lunch. Make the amount you tend to drink. Tomorrow, you can always make another cup.

Already have a stack of paper filters? Use them. Coffee grounds and paper filters can both go into a backyard compost pile, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That gives you a useful option while you decide whether a reusable filter fits your routine.

Give Coffee Pods a Clear Exit Plan

Pods make a fast cup, but disposal takes a little thought. A used pod may contain grounds, plastic or aluminum, and other parts. Your curbside recycling service may have rules about which pods it accepts and how to prepare them. Check those rules before you drop one in the bin.

For pods that local curbside services do not accept, TerraCycle offers a purchased Coffee Capsules Zero Waste Box. It accepts beverage pods from any brand, including plastic and aluminum capsules.

Some TerraCycle programs are free but have narrower rules. Its Cambio Roasters program, for example, accepts only that brand’s pods. TerraCycle says it cleans and separates the collected pods by material, then processes those materials for use in new products.

If pods are your everyday choice, find out which route fits the brand you buy. If you also have a drip brewer, try it for some of your cups. You can change a habit one morning at a time.

Follow the Waste Beyond the Mug

Your coffee routine may include a takeaway cup, a stirrer, a packet of sweetener, or a bag that is difficult to recycle. Take a quick look at the items beside your mug tomorrow. Which one could you use again?

That question works for tea drinkers as well. Free the Ocean’s stainless steel tea strainer holds loose-leaf tea in a fine mesh basket. It gives a regular tea habit a reusable tool, much as a cloth filter does for coffee.

Keep a favorite travel mug by the door if you often buy coffee away from home. Put your reusable filter next to the brewer. Choose one change that suits the way you actually make your drink.

Meet the Company Behind Another Ocean-Minded Find

TerraCycle’s connection to Free the Ocean reaches beyond coffee pods. Free the Ocean carries recycled ocean plastic bracelets made by Virtu Made. The maker works with the TerraCycle Global Foundation to recover plastic from rivers, canals, and other waterways. That material becomes part of bracelets handmade in Bali.

The bracelet does not erase the waste from a disposable coffee pod. It does show another way to think about materials that have already entered waterways: collect them, process them, and put them to use.

For your next cup, the choice can be much closer to home. Brew what you will drink. Reuse a filter if it fits your machine. Compost the grounds if you have a suitable pile. If you rely on pods, check the right collection program for them.

Then sit down and enjoy your coffee.