The rules of Tim Hortons winter pastime “Roll Up The Rim To Win” are simple: one paper cup, one prize.

With millions of Canadians playing each year, that adds up to a lot of paper cups in a landfill.

What’s an eco-conscious contest lover to do?

“I’m kind of torn between getting my reusable mug and taking a paper cup and playing the contest,” said 24-year-old Ally Fraser from Beaumont, Alta.

Although Tim Hortons offers a way for contestants to play at home with a receipt, it’s a separate prize pool and anyone can play, Fraser said, so it does not reduce the number of people who buy paper cups.

Fed-up with having to choose between being green and being a part of the annual contest, Fraser and thousands of reusable mug owners are calling on the popular chain to let them play without being forced to take a paper cup.

A petition, started by Fraser on Change.org, had more than 16,000 signatures Thursday evening.

Fraser, an avid Roll Up the Rim player who tries to avoid using disposable cups whenever possible, said that she started thinking about the toll her Timmie’s addiction had on the environment last year.

“I’m getting a paper cup and that’s horrible and it really bothers me, but at the same time I like to gamble, and I don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to win a prize,” she said.

So she did the math:

Tim Hortons says it will issue at least 272,598,720 cups this year; if five per cent of Roll Up the Rim players switch from reusable mugs to paper cups, that means that they use roughly an extra 15 million paper cups a year.

Representatives from Tim Hortons did not return the Star’s request for comment.

Fraser started her online petition last year during contest season, but it garnered fewer than 100 signatures. An email from the company’s guest services division told her that the cups serve a double purpose — as a contest entry and as a vessel for double doubles — and are thus already environmentally friendly.

“We have investigated the option of producing an alternative contest entry form to replace the hot beverage cup. In performing this assessment, we have determined that producing an alternative contest entry form (such as a scratch card) may actually increase our paper waste because it does not decrease the number of hot beverage cups printed,” the letter said.

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Fraser said she’s not exactly sure how she’d like the contest changed — perhaps reusable cup users could get a sticker for their cup, or a scratch card, she said.

Although she has yet to hear from representatives from the company this year, Fraser hopes 16,000 signatures will convince Tim Hortons executives to roll up their sleeves and come up with a greener way to play Roll Up the Rim to Win.

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