Did you know that most paper cups cannot be recycled because they have a plastic lining? Composite products are notoriously difficult to recycle and the vast majority of paper cups, billions of which are used every year, are dumped into landfill or incinerated. We’ve become familiar with the environmental dangers of plastic in the environment that have been so widely described in the media this year; plastics in the ocean and the food chain. Scientists predict that if something is not done soon there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050.
The other part of the disposable cup equation is the amount of effort that it takes to make just one disposable cup. A tree that grows for thirty years is taken to a paper mill and debarked, chipped, mulched, heat-treated, bleached, rolled, printed and finally lined with a 5% plastic waterproof membrane to form disposable cups. These are then shipped all over the world. According to the WWF the paper industry is the 4th largest industrial user of energy and a significant emitter of greenhouse gas.
All this for a 5 minute convenience and then straight in the bin!
But there is an alternative – take your own pokito reusable cup when you are heading out. You can make a difference and influence others by showing them how easy it is. We hear from so many of our re-users that they get a great response to their pokito pop up cups when they use them out and about.
Join the Reusable Revolution!