Save the world by reusing your coffee cup

Posted on: 2016-08-02 3:03 PM

That take out coffee each morning is a guilty pleasure that many of us indulge in.
 
Yes, we all know our bank balances would thank us if we resisted the lure of the latte, but it turns out there’s also a much more serious consequence of a daily Starbucks run.
 
Contrary to what most of us think, cardboard coffee cups aren’t actually recyclable. And considering we get through a million of them every single day here in Canada, seven million in the UK and a whooping seventy million in the USA that’s a huge amount of litter going to landfill. Put it this way it’s over thirty billion cups a year.
 
Even if we’re all diligently deposit our cups in the recycling bin, it isn’t doing a bit of good.
 
And it’s all down to the way companies make their cups waterproof. To do it, they use a type of cardboard fused with polyethylene, which can’t then be separated by almost all recycling plants.
 
But because there are two places in the UK, one place in Canada and a mere handful in the USA that can carry out the tricky and expensive process, it’s not illegal for firms to claim that their cups are recyclable.
 
So what should we be doing to make a caffeine habit greener?
 
Instead of ditching the flat whites altogether, just invest in a reusable coffee cup. It’ could even save you cash in the long run – Starbucks and Tims’ will give you a discount off your order if you bring your own flask.