Tidy Towns to introduce reusable coffee cups in local cafés
Tidy Towns groups and Westmeath County Council are to team up with cafés and retailers in a bid to reduce the amount of coffee cup litter.
Ruth Maxwell, environment officer with Westmeath County Council, announced that the new ‘Choose to Reuse’ initiative at last Friday’s meeting of the Economic, Enterprise and Tourism Strategic Policy Committee, saying it is to be rolled out by April – Spring Clean month.
According to official estimates, a total of 22,000 coffee cups are disposed of every hour in Ireland – that’s 528,000 per day, and more than 200 million cups annually.
That makes coffee cups and lids the second highest component of litter nationally.
Ms Maxwell stated: “This project is to encourage communities to make a change, it will be led by Tidy Towns groups and runs for the month of April.
“Tidy Towns groups will liaise with local cafés and retailers to roll out the coffee cups.”
The reusable cups are made from bamboo, which can be buried once the cups are no longer usable. The catering grade silicone lids are 100% recyclable and can go in recycling bins.
Westmeath County Council purchased the cups for €9 each, in turn, the cafés will sell them for €7, and the proceeds will go to local Tidy Town groups.
Ms Maxwell said retailers will benefit from selling the branded stock of reusable coffee cups by saving on the cost of disposable cups and waste charges.
Businesses will also be promoted locally and nationally as having signed up to the Conscious Cup website.
She said this will also allow cafés to become influencers in the community with the potential to increase customer numbers as the retailer will offer a discount or incentive to customers who use reusable cups.
“It will also raise awareness of the work that Tidy Towns groups carry out in the community and will help raise their marks in the national sustainability category of the Tidy Towns competition, which it is very difficult to marks in,” said Ms Maxwell.
Impressed by the new campaign were Cllrs Michael O’Brien, Johnnie Penrose and Paul Hogan, while Cllr Frank McDermott complimented Ms Maxwell on her initiative.
Cllr Paddy Hill said all you had to do was go into towns or villages and see old tea and coffee cups dumped all over the place.
Cllr Hill added, with a laugh: “Minister Shane Ross should be complimented as well, because as a result of some the measures he has taken, nobody now can drink anything other than coffee or tea!”