As 'festival season' dawns, Ecoffee Cup urges revellers to ditch single-use cups to lessen their plastic footprint
Ecoffee Cup, a new generation of reusable cup, launched to help tackle the ever-growing problem of single-use packaging waste, is calling on festival goers to trade countless single-use plastic or plastic lined paper cups for reusable ones this summer.
Choosing reusables will help lessen the environmental impact of single-use products going to landfill, while also working to encourage further awareness of the waste issue among the all-important millennial and family festival-going communities.
Glastonbury will spend £780,000 to dispose of an estimated 1650 tonnes of waste generated by 177,550 attendees this year, even despite its green policies, which attempt to deter high volumes of waste.
This year, Glastonbury is aiming for 60% of waste to be recycled (in 2014, half of all waste was recycled). The only way to guarantee that waste doesn't end up in landfill however, is to choose reuse over recycle.
While the vast majority of Brits still believe that takeaway paper cups are recyclable, the reality is quite different; the plastic lining of disposable cups makes the separation and recycling process very difficult. Over 100 billion single-use cups end up in landfill globally each year - that's 273,972,603 coffee cups every single day.
By reusing an Ecoffee Cup multiple times, attendees can support Glastonbury's commitment to 'reduce, reuse and recycle', as the organisers call on festival goers to take everything that is brought onto the festival site home.
“So much more work is needed on behalf of coffee chains, supermarkets and consumer groups in order to raise awareness and change attitudes and behaviours surrounding waste,” says Ecoffee Cup founder, David McLagan. “Coffee-drinking Brits need to be aware of their direct role and responsibility in helping to reduce waste. Everyone can contribute by taking simple steps towards using reusable and sustainable products.”
Throughout the month of June and conveniently ahead of peak festival season, Ecoffee Cup will be supporting the Marine Conservation Society's 'Plastic Challenge' by donating £1 of the sale price of every cup purchased via the Ecoffee Cup website to the MCS.
