Ditch the disposable

Millions of people around the globe start their day with a piping cuppa joe. In a rush to work or school, they order their beverage to-go. There doesn’t seem anything wrong with this daily practice. But look a little deeper and you’ll see the catastrophe.

Ditch the disposable is our campaign. We encourage coffee (and other hot-drink) lovers to put a little more thought into the paper cups they buy daily. With 1,000,000 paper cups sent to landfill each minute, surely, we need to reduce our consumption of these disposable devils. Our aim is to get as many people as possible, to bring their own travel mugs to coffee shops, instead of using a paper cup. We want to reduce deforestation, landfill, water-waste and CO2 emissions.

Here are some quick facts about the paper cup problem:

• Most paper cups are non-recyclable, as their plastic lining is too difficult for recycling plants to separate
• Fewer than 1 in 400 cups are recycled. The rest; about 1 million per minute, get put in landfill
• Because of FDA regulations, paper cups must be made of non-recycled materials i.e. New trees have to be cut down to make them (20 million trees annually) 
• For every cup produced, 1/4 pound of CO2 is released in the atmosphere

Sure, there are a lot of problematic disposable products out there. We are living in a society obsessed with convenience after all. The fact that the paper cup is so ubiquitous, and at the same time, so unnecessary is why we are targeting it. Most people have/can afford a reusable travel mug. Most coffee shops are happy to let you use one. These cups are wreaking havoc on the environment, so the least we can do is ditch the dirty habit.

You can even earn rewards from bringing a reusable cup. Starbucks offer a 35c discount. Insomnia gives loyalty card points. And Cafe Nero and Cafe Sol give you an extra stamp on your loyalty card!

We are carrying out our project through Eco-Unesco; An environmental youth organisation. We have a Facebook page, with an information video. Please go watch the video, like and share our page.

Use the hashtag #DitchtheDisposable, Get the word out there! We also have a Twitter page and are welcoming selfies and tweets every time people order with a reusable mug. 

We ask you, in this crazy world of want and waste – are you going to a part of the problem, or of the solution?