Takeaway coffee cups not recyclable

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Takeaway coffee cups not recyclable
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Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 8:21 am Post subject:

jema wrote:

Pods are depressing, that they took off shows how thin peoples attitudes on recycling are

And also how they want everything instantly and how each new product like this further distances people from real food/drinks

Woo

Joined: 19 Sep 2011
Posts: 787
Location: Mayenne, Pays de Loire

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 8:24 am Post subject:

I saw HFW on the bbc the other night talking about this.( didn't know he had moved channels)
I liked the idea of the discount for bringing your own cup!
instead of calling your name they could call, "chipped snoopy!"

what a waste. I didn't realise they couldn't be recycled. I have shared the info with oldest who got a taste for coffee on a school trip to Germany. told him he could only have it it in a proper cup from now on!

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 8:28 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

My DIL has a device that uses a reusable bit instead of the pod. The only waste is the coffee grounds, but I understand they are now saving those for my compost heap. They are in a flat so don't have a compost bin of their own. I will find out what the thing is called and post here.

From Explain that stuff - is this maybe what she is using?

Quote:

Finally, most single-serve machines are anything but environmentally friendly. You're wasting a plastic pod, metal foil, and filter paper with every single cup of coffee you make. That might not sound significant until you consider that Keurig®, the market-leading US brand, sells about 10 billion of its K-Cup® pods every year! There are some environmentally friendly pod systems, however; Nespresso pods are made of easily recyclable aluminum, for example, which sounds great. The only trouble is, there's a big difference between "recyclable" and "actually recycled": Keurig's "100 percent recyclable" pods have to be split and separated into paper, metal, and plastic for effective recycling, so most people are likely to just throw them away. A classic example of greenwash? If green credentials matter to you, check out companies such as Kienna Coffee, which makes a plastic adapter for Keurig brewers that take compostable and biodegradable pods. You can reuse the adapter and throw away the coffee!

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 8:32 am Post subject:

Woo wrote:

I liked the idea of the discount for bringing your own cup!
instead of calling your name they could call, "chipped snoopy!"

I posted how unhappy I was about the cups not being recyclable on Costa and Starbucks FB pages. No reply from Starbucks but Costa gave me some corporate blurb about how they are looking to make them recyclable at some time in the future and offered the "bring your own" discount. Interestingly, when I asked what their time-scale was for making the cups recyclable and how many people actually brought their own cup all I got was deadly silence.

Woo

Joined: 19 Sep 2011
Posts: 787
Location: Mayenne, Pays de Loire

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 8:37 am Post subject:
We have a proper coffee percolator thingy that goes on the stove. the grounds go into compost or round the heather plants. My SIL gave us her fancy Jura coffee machine when she brought a nespresso . it does the works but is sat waiting to go to Ebay as its just too mad for words, grinding, boiling, steaming milk. and you only get a few sips in the cup.

Woo

Joined: 19 Sep 2011
Posts: 787
Location: Mayenne, Pays de Loire

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 10:45 am Post subject:

Green Rosie wrote:

Woo wrote:

I liked the idea of the discount for bringing your own cup!
instead of calling your name they could call, "chipped snoopy!"

sadly they don't seem to care. luckily we still do.
good work Green warrior Rosie!

yummersetter

Joined: 26 Jan 2008
Posts: 3241
Location: Somerset

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 10:58 am Post subject:
Oh, I'd go for the 'Bring Your Own Cup' discount. If only their coffee didn't taste like fag ends steeped in dishwater.

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 11:19 am Post subject:

yummersetter wrote:

Oh, I'd go for the 'Bring Your Own Cup' discount.

If only their coffee didn't taste like fag ends steeped in dishwater.

Exactly but it would appear far too many people think that it what coffee should taste like.

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 11:55 am Post subject:

From Costa's website:

Quote:

Our Cups

At Costa we are truly passionate about our iconic takeaway cup. Our paper cups come from card made of sustainable wood pulp from forests in northern Europe. Our cups are recyclable, but we’re working hard to ensure more are recovered and recycled.

Errrmmm - is that not a touch misleading bearing in mind how few get to the specialist recycling plant? ... there is a link that takes you to another page that spouts more corporate waffle:

Quote:

We know you, our customers, are concerned. We are too. It’s a complex issue which requires the support of other coffee shops, manufacturers, waste companies, local authorities and customers. That’s why we’ve partnered with Sheffield University to help us further understand industry-wide issues and create solutions based on facts and research.

You might have also seen that we’ve been trialling a number of in-store recycling trials, customer awareness programmes and behind the scenes some waste disposal programmes. However, until we are satisfied that more of our takeaway cups are being recycled we have removed the recycling symbol from our cups.

So Costa blame everyone else for the fact they are part of a huge waste problem ad I wait with bated breath to see what the outcome of the work with Sheffield Uni might be.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46169
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 1:01 pm Post subject:

for the price of a couple of cups of coffee from a takeaway coffee shop you can get a bag of locally roasted,ethically sourced grounds that will make 20+ cups

heating water to 90c isnt that tricky.

some one use disposable things are a good idea , medical kit springs to mind but some are just daft and even a bit annoying when they come with added greenwashing .

as a slight aside a good knife will last almost for ever (green) , stanley knife blades which are perfect for some jobs will last for ages if resharpened (greenish) but the snap off ones are the proper tool for paper hanging (not so greenish) so i'm not entirely one sided on such matters.

i really dont have much liking for one purpose gadgets that require expensive/high waste replacement bits.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4610
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 1:05 pm Post subject:
Don`t they still sell Thermos`s anymore?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46169
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 1:09 pm Post subject:
they are available in breaking glass or "cockroach" stainless steel, those can survive an 1100ft fall down a mountain (i know that cos i had rather enjoyed the soup before they descended to recover it ) we have a few for tea,coffee,sand eels etc

pollyanna

Joined: 03 Nov 2012
Posts: 221

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 2:03 pm Post subject:
The few times I have had to have Costa Coffee the liquid has been disgusting and bears little resemblance to coffee, so it will be no penance to avoid it in future. At Our local hospital they got rid of the lovely ladies and there is a Costa in their place. Not an improvement!!

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 16 2:09 pm Post subject:

pollyanna wrote:

The few times I have had to have Costa Coffee the liquid has been disgusting and bears little resemblance to coffee, so it will be no penance to avoid it in future. At Our local hospital they got rid of the lovely ladies and there is a Costa in their place. Not an improvement!!

I have only ever had one Costa coffee - like you say Pollyanna, it bore little resemblance to coffee although the lingering vile taste and caffeine did keep me awake.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8882
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 16 11:56 am Post subject:
The Costa franchises are so variable. They CAN produce a good cup of coffee..but having been given a bag of said company's beans...they could be working with something better

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