'The Big four' Part 4

Take Away Coffee Cups (and no they can't be recycled)

As part of Plastic Free July we made a commitment not to use take away coffee cups even again. Big call, but with some reusable 'keep cups' and a couple of habit changes (actually remembering to take them with us) very easy.

Disposable take away coffee cups. They look like they are made of paper, but are actually lined with plastics that do not break down and are damaging to the environment.

Australians use around 1 billion disposable coffee cups every year - amounting to some 60 tons of plastic waste per annum. So it's no wonder that take away coffee cups are the second-largest contributor to litter waste after plastic bottles (our final piece of plastic in this four part series). With these figures in mind take away coffee cups deserve to be identified as one of the 'Big Four'.

Slow down, sit down and enjoy a moment with your coffee, or buy a keep cup it's that simple

Once again there are some very simple solutions to never needing another single use (plastic lined) take away coffee cup.

Number One: Slow down. If you 'need' a coffee what about taking five minutes from your day to sit down and enjoy it (from a reusable mug). Perhaps a radical idea in our fast paced lives, but try it for a change, you might find your savour the taste and enjoy your coffee just that little bit more.

Number Two: buy a reusable travel mug (with a decent lid) and carry it with you. To this we would also add work out which cafes offer a discount when you bring your own mug, if you drink a lot of coffee the savings could add up over a year - and they will defiantly pay for your travel mug. In 2015 recent research revealed that by the time you use your keep cup 15 times you've broken even from an environmental perspective.

That's it, super easy!

Some of our family's suggestions and ideas we'd love to share:

• Once again we suggest check out Slow Your Home - Plastic: Say No to the Big 4, and http://www.noplasticbags.org.au/alternatives/
• Slow down, enjoy a coffee sitting down once in a while.
• Buy a travel mug! We love our Keep cups.

Questions

Do you really enjoy that coffee that you drink while on the go?