Every minute over one million disposable cups are discarded to landfill. Half of the plastic used in the world today is for single use disposable items. Most of the world’s paper supply, in fact about 71%, still comes from diminishing forests, not tree farms or the recycling bin.
KeepCups are everywhere at the moment and I’ve been dying to get my hands on one for months, as unsurprisingly, living in Melbourne is doing nothing to help my insatiable soy flat white habit. Ignoring the dent this habit is taking on my bank account – because coffee is a necessity – I became concerned about the number of takeaway cups I was consuming. Sure, I always did my best to throw them into a recycling bin, but unfortunately even those that make it to a recycling bin could be doing more harm than good. Many cups are lined with polyethylene to make them waterproof and this lining means they can’t be recycled with collections of paper and cardboard; they may actually contaminate a load, causing the whole lot to be sent to landfill. Not good.
So should we stop consuming coffee? Never. We do, however, need to take collective responsibility as consumers to create less waste, and if you haven’t got time to sit in and enjoy your coffee from a mug, a reusable takeaway cup is the best option.
I’ve seen many different brands, styles and price points but the one that kept drawing me back was the KeepCup Brew, with it’s stylish glass design and my favourite part, the cork band. I got the 12oz size which easily holds my beloved flat white, and I used the Design Your Own feature on the KeepCup website, to create a custom cup to suit my colour preferences. It arrived carefully packaged in fully recyclable materials, with lots of information about usage and cleaning. I feel the quality, design and overall brand identity of the KeepCup is unmatched in any other reusable coffee cup. I also love that the top can be sealed once you’ve finished your coffee and thrown into a bag with no worries about spillage – realistically you won’t always be able to rinse and dry your cup after using on the go.
Not only are they aesthetically pleasing, KeepCup have inspired their own #reuserevolution, encouraging consumers to track how many reusable cups they’re saving from landfill. At the time of writing this, Australia alone has saved 1328,542 cups! In just a year, using a KeepCup reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 92% compared to disposables, so there is no better time to make the switch than right now.
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