Times are changing.
As a world, we’re awakening to the consequences of our actions. The shores awash with plastics have crashed into our conscience and, as a result, we’re all making little efforts for big changes. Straw alternatives, beach clean clubs and plastic free cafe’s – the independent scene is reacting quick and now the next product to launch will tackle our love of coffee. Oh, dear caffeine. How could we start the day without you? But, throughout our guzzling antics, a pile of empty coffee cups have racked up behind us. So, what can we do?
Enter, the Colu Cup, a reusable cup that anyone can ‘borrow’ from 4 coffee shops in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle – Coffee & Fandisha, Fodder Canteen, The Baltic Roastery by 92 and Siren. Following a deposit of £2 paid to the ‘The Colu Cup’ merchant account via the Colu app, the cup is yours to use. This scheme allows you to use the cup and then then if you choose to return it, your deposit will be refunded. Alternatively, you can keep hold of the cup and just exchange for a clean cup in any of the four coffee shops with your next coffee.
Not only will these cups help reduce the use waste but the cups themselves are made from polypropylene which is fully recyclable and they are also BPA free. Each reusable cup can be used well over 400 times as they are durable and dish-washable and provide an economical and environmentally better alternative to single use options for everyone. Alongside the environmental benefits, we have heard from many businesses across the city how expensive purchasing high quality takeaway ware is and in this way through this scheme Colu will absorb the cost for these pioneering independents.
We spoke to Colu about their new cup:
“Our inspiration for this community project came from seeing the impact of the Freiburg cup. This is a sustainable cup program implemented in order to reduce the number of disposable cups that are used by cafes and restaurants. As a nation we use 7 million disposable coffee cups every day, adding up to 2.5 billion a year! Almost all of these cups are lined with a polyethylene, a potentially polluting plastic that slowly breaks down into micro-plastics which can then make into the environment and our food chain. This is a significant problem and in the UK, the government are looking to implement a ‘Latte levy’ which will be a 25p tax on each disposable cup as a means of taxation, which will be either passed on to the customer or absorbed by the business. It may only be a cup, but we believe that small, deliberate adjustments in everyday decisions, such as by using our reusable cup instead of disposables, can have a massive impact on shaping the kind of community we want to live in, allowing us to most effectively support our city and the people that make this place so special.”
