Single use coffee cups belong in the history books. Used once then simply tossed away, taking hundreds of years to decompose. Due to the plastic lining present on these cups they are very rarely recycled with the majority ending in landfill or incinerators.

So how many of these single use cups are we using in the UK?

Single use coffee cups in numbers

• A report from 2011 showed 2,500,000,000 single use coffee cups are used every year in the UK. The figure is likely to be significantly higher now.
• A more recent report by Eunomia Research and Consulting suggests that the UK may already use as many as 5,000,000,000 coffee cups per year in the UK
• Only 0.25% of single use coffee cups are currently recycled – that is less than 1 in every 400 single use cups!
• Going on the more recent report, this means 4,987,500,000 single use coffee cups are landfilled or incinerated each year in the UK
• 1 in 5 of us visit a coffee shop every week
• 30% of Londoners buy at least one hot drink to-go every week

A carbon footprint comparison

Single use coffee cups have a plastic lining on the inside (they are usually 5% polyethylene to meet health and safety requirements). This makes them difficult to recycle as they can’t be treated simply as paper or as plastic. They need to be sent to a specialist recycling facility which is able to separate the paper fibres from the plastic lining.

An average single use coffee cup has a carbon footprint of about 0.060kg of CO2.

We can compare that with a reusable Ohelo travel cup. Our insulated travel mugs have a carbon footprint of 1.18kg of CO2 – this is the same as 20 single use coffee cups. Once you have used your Ohelo tumbler a mere 20 times you will have lowered your carbon footprint.

As your Ohelo cup will last you years, it is easy to see how choosing a reusable Ohelo cup can result in a significant reduction of your carbon footprint.

A money saving option

As an incentive to help people choose the more planet friendly option of using a reusable coffee cup, there are wide ranging price perks when buying a takeaway drink on-the-go. You can save anywhere from 25p to 50p per takeaway coffee from both international chains and smaller independent coffee shops.

If you buy a coffee a week, then by choosing to use an Ohelo reusable coffee cup you could save £24 a year on your coffee habit. In 15 months, you will have saved enough money to fully cover the cost of your Ohelo travel cup. After that, your coffee cup will not only be helping you save the planet but also giving you a financial saving too.

How long does it take for a single use coffee cup to decompose?

As mentioned, single use coffee cups are usually a mixture of paper and polyethylene plastic. It can take up to 30 years for this polyethylene lining to decompose. Even then, there will be microplastics left behind. Microplastics are a growing concern in the global plastic problem. They are found in the air that we breathe, the water we drink and even in our blood. They are found in the remotest arctic ice shelves.

How many single use coffee cups are being used in the UK?

In the UK, a recent study estimates we use 5,000,000,000 single use coffee cups every year.

Let’s break that down:

• Every day 13,698,630 single use coffee cups are used in the UK
• Every hour 570,776 single use coffee cups are used in the UK
• Every minute 9,513 single use coffee cups are used in the UK

Only 0.25% of single use coffee cups are currently recycled in the UK. This means that 4,987,500,000 single use coffee cups are littered, landfilled or incinerated every year in the UK. Breaking that down:

• Every day 13,664,380 single use coffee cups are used in the UK
• Every hour 569,349 single use coffee cups are used in the UK
• Every minute 9,489 single use coffee cups are used in the UK

30% of Londoners buy at least one takeaway hot drink every week (some buy considerably more). If we look at a person that buys one takeaway drink a week, that would be 52 single use travel cups each year. That is a carbon footprint of 3.12kg of CO2. It is 52 single use coffee cups that are not recycled but treated as waste. With a simple swap to an Ohelo reusable coffee cup, in the 1^st year alone this person would reduce their carbon footprint by 1.94kg of CO2.  

Simple swaps can make a difference

Now we can see the problem that single use coffee cups cause for our planet, we can look at reducing our impact with some simple swaps:

Choose a reusable coffee cup. An insulated Ohelo travel cup will keep your tea hot, will reduce you carbon footprint, will save you money on your coffee to-go from your favourite coffee shop, and is endlessly recyclable.

Say no to single use cups in the office. If you would rather not use a to-go cup while at work, opt instead for a traditional mug and give it a wash at the end of each day.

Don’t wishcycle. While single use coffee cups may be technically recyclable, they have to be correctly sorted and then sent to a specialist recycling centre capable of separating the paper from the plastic lining. As such these should not be placed in traditional recycling bins, as instead of being recycled they will in fact contaminate the other recyclable materials in that bin, resulting in more rubbish going to landfill.

Raise your reusable cup to protecting the planet

It is not too late to turn the tide on the plastic pollution problem. By learning more about the problems we become more informed and can make better choices in our personal lives. By choosing an Ohelo reusable coffee cup we can lead by example to those around us, stop the tide of single use coffee cups going to landfill, reduce our carbon footprint, save some money and live in an eco-friendlier way. Make every sip count.

Similar posts:
1. Is your coffee cup recyclable?
2. Why single use coffee cups aren't widely recycled
3. The single use plastic problem: The scary facts
4. Saving money with your reusable coffee cup