In 2019 10.8 million people took away a coffee from a coffee shop in the UK . We can’t keep creating this single use cup waste. We need a reuse system that works and we think Cheshire deserves this.
That 10.8 million cups equates to 16% of the UK population. This equates to 55,080 coffee cups just in Cheshire West which could well have been single use. Less than 1% of single use coffee cups are recycled as they need to go to specialist recycling facilities as most are a mix of paper and plastic. Some businesses have tried to become more responsible and gone for the compostable versions, the difficulty here is that these require industrial composting that’s not available in most locations in the UK and so they are thrown away into general waste in the region. The optimum aim is for a circular economy, no waste as in nature.
What we propose is deposit return style scheme, where a deposit is paid for the reusable coffee cup, a small deposit say £1 is paid for the cup itself. The take away coffee and cup can be taken off the premises, but the cup can then be taken back to the same café the next day or handed into another participating café for a new clean cup or refund.
30th May 2022 Update
It’s a week later – thanks to those of you that donated to get us to 20 backers and the CWAC funding we are now at 70% – YEYYYYYY – we have 91 days to raise the rest. If you can spare a few pounds it would be absolutely fantastic. ANOTHER £2,202 💸NEEDED 😀
If anyone has any fund raising ideas let us know, we have a couple of events coming up. Green Expo and Festival for the Future we could use to raise some funds. 🥤
PROJECT BACKGROUND
What we’ll deliver:
- We will deliver a reusable cup scheme in Chester as phase one
Why it’s a great idea:
We are all human and ww go out without one of those reusable cups we bought and fancy a take away coffee, so we end up using a single use cup with we then throw away. Cafes are using single use cups which go into general waste or end up in our environment, parks and oceans. If they are branded they can also result in bad press for a business. What about the Carbon Footprint of Single use Vs Reusables?
A disposable cup uses 110g of CO2e A reusable cup made from polypropylene and manufactured in the UK has a lower environmental impact than single-use paper cups after just 3 uses. After 7 uses the environmental impact is 41% less, after 182 uses (6 months) the impact is 95% less.
SO A WIN WIN It could also help to put Cheshire on the map as one of the most sustainable regions in the UK.
Please support our Spacehive funder – we understand times are tough and money is tight. Why not pledge the cost of a reusable cup to us £10 – it all helps.
Sustainable Cheshire 