Replace The Waste - The Rise of the Reusables and the Ecoffee Cup

Who doesn’t love a takeaway hot drink?

With the vast choice of teas, coffees and other beverages available from coffee shops, and today’s grab and dash culture, it’s no wonder that takeaway drinks have become immensely popular. I'm as guilty as any for grabbing, dashing, drinking and binning. Until recently...

The single-use cup arrived on the scene in the 1980’s, benefiting the takeaway drinks industry. Fabulous for business, but what about the environment?

'Ecoffee Cup' estimate that over 2 TRILLION of these disposable cups have ended up in landfill over the last 30 years. That’s 2 000 000 000 000 for you to see that figure visually! That’s around 100 billion a year.
The average lifespan of a disposable cup is around 15 minutes – then off it goes into the bin. Because of the plastic content in these cups, less than 1% are actually recycled, contrary to consumer belief. That’s crazy! For me, this information has forced me to take action. I've been recycling for years, but is this enough? Nope.

Don’t get me wrong – recycling is great when possible – but, reusing is even better! Replace the waste is the new mantra!

5 Scary facts about paper and waste

Because paper cups contain 5% plastic, it is extremely rare that they can be recycled
35% of chopped down trees are used in the paper industry
We consume nearly 300 million tonnes of paper a year
Hardly any recycled paper is used to make disposable cups due to health risk concerns
Consumer waste has gone up from 40kg to 560kg of waste per person, per year. This is the fact that stunned me the most!

What can we do about this throw away cup culture?

MPs have said that a 25p levy (like the plastic bag levy in shops) should be introduced on single-use coffee cups to cut waste, and there have been calls for a complete ban on all single-use cups by 2023 unless manufacturers can make them recyclable.

What IS an Ecoffee Cup?

The Ecoffee Cup is made from bamboo fibre. When I first heard this, I admit, I had no clue that bamboo could be used for products like this
I was fascinated to learn that it’s the fastest growing and most sustainable crop
It’s also sterile! This means that your drink’s flavour is never tinted by the cup’s material, unlike some other drinks vessels
It’s BPA and phthalate free
It is super lightweight
There’s a lid and sleeve made from matte food-grade silicone, specifically designed for hot liquids
The whole cup is dishwasher safe. But don’t use it in the microwave – it doesn’t like microwaves
It has a brilliant re-sealable ‘no-drip’ lid – coffee on the go has never been less drippy!
They look amazing! Hats off to the Ecoffee designers – they’ve come up with some absolutely fabulous designs using fun and contemporary patterns… classic prints or bright, vibrant colours are characteristics of the Ecoffee Cup. The only problem with these mugs is choosing from all of the gorgeous designs on offer!

So what now?

I’ve been pondering which design of Ecoffee Cup to choose for some time now. Writing this blog has prompted me to choose right now and start making a difference. I'm hoping that you are with me on this!

Alongside Ecoffee Cup, it would be great to raise awareness on this topic and change the way people think about their takeaway drinks vessels. Please join us and share this blog – the power of social media can help to REPLACE THE WASTE!

We would love to see pictures of you using your Ecoffee Cup – please do share on social media and tag ourselves and Ecoffee Cup, and remember to add the hashtags #stopthe100billion and #replacethewaste if you can!

Thanks in advance from Potters Cookshop… and our precious planet!

Happy Reusing!

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Our Eco Sustainability window display at Potters Cookshop

Stasher: The Eco-friendly Stash, Store & Cook Reusable Storage Bag