15.04.2022

​Disposable Coffee Cups - Why Your Takeaway Cup Never Goes Away

The biggest problem is that our disposable coffee cups are made from paper and lined with a form of plastic called polyethylene. It makes them waterproof so they can hold our drinks however this also makes them hard to dispose of. The plastic lining used in our takeaway coffee cups cannot be removed by most recycling facilities. 16 billion paper cups are used for coffee every single year, which leads to 6.5 million trees cut down, 4 billion gallons of water going to waste, and enough energy to power 54,000 homes for a year also goes to waste. When the plastic lining of our used paper cup does break down it begins to create microplastics. These are tiny fragments of plastic which are less than 1mm in length. After doing some research it appears that coffee cups are the second biggest contributor to garbage second only to plastic bottles. There are two parts to the solution – responsibility lies with both the coffee shop selling the single-use cup and the consumer buying the coffee it contains. People need to get into the habit of taking a reusable mug or tumbler with them when they go to buy their cappuccino or macchiato. Coffee shops need to offer incentives for customers to bring their own cups. Along with this, coffee shops should also make reusable mugs or tumblers available for purchase in-store. This is a win-win for the coffee shop because they will also make money on the sale of the mugs. Credit: BRIGHTVIBES