Plastic Free July is a global initiative aiming to promote the solution to plastic pollution by encouraging people to choose to refuse single-use plastics.
It is estimated that 295 million disposable cups are used each year in New Zealand If you think that is a lot, according to the International Coffee Organization, an astounding 600 billion (approximately) paper and plastic cups are used annually each year.
The problem is that many disposable cups cannot be recycled because they are lined with wax which is why they can be a vessel to contain your hot drinks. Even compostable disposable cups cannot be composted without commercial composting facilities. Because of this, it is often the case that disposable cups end up in landfill so by refusing single-use plastics and using your reusable cup, you are part of the global movement trying to reduce the large amount of disposable cups ending up in landfill each year.
Reusable cups that are used time and time again promote sustainability. CUPPACOFFEECUP is made from food-grade polypropylene – a plastic that can be easily recycled at the end of its life and made into new consumer goods. The lid is made from Elastomer. While, of course, there is some environmental impact in producing a CUPPACOFFEECUP, reusing your CUPPACOFFEECUP for a year or two will definitely help the planet! At the end of its life, both the cup and lid can be recycled.
Great care and research was put into the design of our New Zealand made CUPPACOFFEECUP. The CUPPACOFFEECUP was designed with the look and feel of a disposable cup in mind, to make the transition from disposable to reusable easier. They were designed for milk based coffees to enable you to feel the warmth of your coffee as it was felt that this enriched the coffee drinking experience – the same as with a disposable cup.
The design of CUPPACOFFEECUP was to simulate the traditional takeaway coffee cup. It is designed for the coffee to be consumed as you would with a takeaway coffee cup. It is not a Thermos. This was a deliberate design element as thermos cups are not usually sustainable. This is the same regarding a closing plug. Most plugs (and bands) are silicone which cannot be recycled. If someone does try to recycle the cup with the silicone attachment, then the whole item would go directly into landfill which is not the desired result.
Have a look at the Plastic Free July official website (https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/) to see what you can do to start your single-use plastic free journey. The hope is that you will continue this journey well beyond the end of July.
Enjoy your amazing piece of artwork on your CUPPACOFFEECUP too and feel proud that each cup purchased provides a royalty payment to our amazing artists.