PP8: Coffee cup wars

Our government continually tells you what’s bad for you doesn’t it? You shouldn’t smoke. You shouldn’t drink. You shouldn’t really drive. You can’t eat microwave meals. Your not even allowed to use plastic bags from supermarkets anymore. What ever next?

Well, given that the government is on a roll I think it should move onto the coffee cup. Every day I see hundreds of cardboard cups (with their plastic lids) littering the streets or piling up in bins, destined for landfill. A former classmate of mine used to get strange looks because she insisted on carrying with her a thermo cup which she would hand over to the guy at Starbucks and insist he use. While carrying around a bulky cup and having to clean it out yourself could be a burden too far for many people I think this may be a sacrifice worth making. The government should have a quiet word in the ear of one or two of the nations largest coffee chains and suggest to them, much like they have with supermarkets, that they might want to think about changing their policies – or else. It doesn’t even have to be a national government; an ambitious city council or local mayor could apply pressure and provide funding for pilot schemes too.

The selling of thermo mugs in coffee shops along with a small discount, say 5p, on each purchase made using one would do wonders for the image of the first brand to adopt it. Others would almost certainly follow suit.

Now this policy isn’t going to save the world, but unfortunately it appears that magic bullets are few and far between, and this would almost certainly be a hopeful shot in the right direction.