PLASTAWAY
fighting single-use plastic
Hey Guys,
as you all probably know by now, I love spending a big amount of my time in or around Coffeeshops, it doesn’t matter if it’s the local one around the corner, a new pop up down the street or the hipster Coffeeshop in the trendy district where all the cool kids go.
A good Brew is what makes me happy.
As I am traveling quite a bit and I am always happy to find the best brew in town – I realized something! It doesn’t matter if Big City or Small Town - there is always so much waste produced in Coffeeshops – all around the World!
The Enemy is called “Single-used Plastic”!
Nowadays coffee is the world’s second most traded product, lagging behind only oil.
But, our global caffeine addiction comes at a great cost to the environment, and our coffee habit contributes enormously to the increasingly urgent plastic pollution crisis.
So I am joining my friends Marco and Oli , the Founders of Plastaway, a non profit organization from berlin, Germany, who are fighting against the “Single-used” Plastic pollution which has taken over our daily Lifes.
Plastaway is a modern NGO run by an alliance of creatives and opinion leaders from the areas of media, politic, sports and entertainment aiming to inspire people from all around the world to avoid single-use plastics.
So I asked myself – what can I do to help?
I came up with 2 very simple Solutions.
Number 1 – The Takeaway Cup
It is estimated that around 2.5 BILLION single-use coffee cups are discarded globally every YEAR This equates to a staggering of 5000 every minute. Yes you read it right – 5 THOUSAND Cups are thrown away EVERY Minute.
So I thought about and I bought myself my own Takeaway Cup. Its so simple right?
It doesn’t matter if it’s the high-priced Cup from this super cool vintage gluten free hipster Company or just the one from your local convenience store.
It just COUNTS that you will take it with you – everyday (I guess you drink coffee every day as well).
Just remember to take it with you. I, myself had the Problem at the beginning that I always forgot my Cup at home when I left the house – so when I arrived at the shop I said to myself - either I take my 5 minutes and drink the coffee in the shop - instead of taking it away – or I refused to get one – because I made the mistake to take the cup with me. You will see – after your second miss - you will never forget your cup again.
Number 2 – Plastic stirrers
Did you know a bag of 1000 plastic stirrers costs only around 4 Euro? Yes it is! And there is the Problem! We do need something to stir our Coffee (I don’t – but I drink mine black or without sugar anyway) But there are so many People drinking their hot Beverages with a stir – so what can we do about?
There are two simple Solutions –
First stir your coffee straight away with a spoon in the shop – Its quick and there is no Waste produced at all!
But what if there is no time or no Spoons available or you have to run ?
Take a spoon or your personal stirrer with you!
Sounds funny but you will start with an amazing Change and maybe some People saw you and think how cool you are - in making a Change! We definitely need People like this.
The third option would be trying good coffee without sugar – which definitely tastes so much better … but that’s a totally other story I will talk about very soon.
DON’T WAIT FOR THE CHANGE – MAKE A CHANGE – BE THE CHANGE !
But there is also some hope from the other side – a lot of coffeeshop owners change their plastic lined Cups to the Cups with plant-based linings and the also use vegetable-based inks to reduce the waste! Just check out your local Coffeshop, have a chat with the baristas and ask them what they think and what they use! I am pretty sure they will love your takeaway cup much more then the usual cuo!
I hope this little Text will make you rethink the next time you’re heading out to get your caffeine fix – and btw the Espressos or Filters you drink – taste so much better in your own Cup anyway!
Stay brewed, Sascha
