Firstly what are Coffee-to-go cups?

Coffee-to-go cups as well as other to-go food containers are part of the service packaging for on-the-go consumption. 

However, to reduce plastic waste and become environmentally friendly, reusable cups can reduce the volume of disposable cups.

The Blue Angel eco-label places particularly recommendable requirements.

The first organization to obtain the Blue Angel for its reusable cup system is the start-up “FairCup.” A vocational school’s student initiative in Göttingen gave birth to FairCup. The firm has locations all around Germany the meantime. The Blue Angel for resource-saving reusable cup systems (DE-UZ 210) aims to limit the use of throwaway cups and develop reusable cup systems that are good for the environment.

The Startup FairCup was founded in 2016 on the initiative of the teacher Sibylle Meyer and her former students of the vocational school II in Göttingen. 

The special feature of the FairCup cups is that they can be easily returned in emptied vending machines in participating supermarkets. The vending machine partner of FairCup already has 30,000 locations.

According to the Federal Environment Agency (Uba),

2.8 billion disposable cups are used annually for hot drinks in out-of-home sales, of which 1.7 billion are paper cups.

As a result, more and more disposable cups are polluting public squares, streets, and nature. Littering, i.e. the careless discarding of waste in public spaces, pollutes our environment. The amount of waste in the cities costs the municipalities a lot of effort and money.

Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said: “Coffee is consumed differently today than it was twenty years ago. ‘To-go’ consumption has become a part of life for many. FairCup shows that environmentally friendly consumption is also possible without sacrificing everyday habits.“

In addition to providing reusable cups, business owners may encourage consumers to bring their food containers and have them filled. Numerous rules may be used for this purpose by stores, shops, cafés, and restaurants, or consumers themselves can distribute food on reusable plates and bottles.

Reusable packaging for on-the-go consumption should be offered in addition to existing initiatives. Among other things, this involves charging differently for disposable and reusable items at the point of sale. Instead of giving away reusable packaging that is brought along, there should be a cost for throwaway packaging.

Read more about compostable coffee here.

Source: umwelt bundesamt