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I love a good coffee. As a university student and small business owner, coffee is the fuel to my engine; and that’s before I go to work with 600+ high school kids every morning. Boy, those kids sure know how to keep you on your toes! The point I’m making here is I LOOOOVE coffee, but I never realised just how much damage I was causing our environment by grabbing a quick takeaway from the café downstairs.

What I didn’t know was that disposable coffee cups are made up of a few layers. In-between the layers of cardboard is a layer of plastic which helps insulate the cup, making coffee cups non-recyclable. Coffee cups are said to be the second biggest polluter, with Australians using a whopping 1 billion cups every single year. So, whilst the cardboard disappears over time, the Earth is left with these plastic linings.

Even though there are a variety of ‘eco-friendly’ takeaway cups on the market, there are still problems surrounding these little polluting villains. Australia’s waste management facilities aren’t equipped to handle many of these issues. Compostable cups are great in theory, but Australia’s composting facilities cannot process the cups effectively and there’s no ‘compostable cup transport’ set up to get these specific cups to the right treatment plant. Biodegradable cups sound amazing, but there are still questions as to whether they really do degrade.

I know so many people who put their takeaway coffee cup in the recycling bins because they think that they’re doing good. Where their intentions are good, their actions may be doing more harm than they think. With coffee cups having that small plastic lining, it means that they can’t be recycled with other paper and cardboard products. If they get mixed up in the recycling process, the cups can actually contaminate the entire recyclable produce and send the whole thing to landfill.

With all this doom and gloom, there is a small silver lining. We can recycle the coffee cup lid. But really we could all help reduce this waste and pollution problem with one simple trick- buy your own reusable cup! There are so many café’s and coffee shops who provide a discount if you have your own cup. Your cup basically pays for itself after just a few uses! Not only that, you feel good knowing you’re helping the issue of coffee cup waste in Australia.

Here at Eco Buddy, we’re committed to making a sustainable future our reality. Join us in our fight to reduce waste and make the Earth smile again!