The UK has always been thought of as a nation of tea lovers, but coffee is rapidly overtaking it as the most popular drink. According to a report by ITV, 63% of people drink coffee regularly while only 59% of people regularly drink tea.
Coffee culture is thriving in cities and towns up and down the UK. Most of the time you’re only a stone's throw away from a coffee shop, whether it be a chain like Costa Coffee or an independent coffee shop. Today’s generations are taking their love for coffee further, with some people only drinking speciality blends from local coffee roasters.
But the coffee shop industry isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, current coffee consumption habits are having a considerable impact on the environment. It’s estimated that around 7 million coffee cups are thrown away every day, a large proportion ending up in landfill sites.
Read on to discover more about how the rise in coffee consumption in the UK has caused an increase in the production of disposable coffee cups.
The Rise of Coffee Shops
Costa Coffee remains the largest UK coffee shop chain with a 26% share of the coffee shop market and 2,677 stores nationwide. By 2030 the number of coffee shops is expected to be higher than the number of pubs, but how has this happened?
Coffee was first introduced in England in the 17th Century but lost popularity in the 1800s with the introduction of tea. But in recent decades, the resurgence of coffee and coffee house culture has been on the rise.
Nowadays, coffee shops are the go-to place to socialise - whether it be a catch-up with friends, a place to work, or simply enjoying a cup of coffee on your own. Popular culture has moved away from the pub which is a social place that tends to involve drinking, coffee houses are thriving as a place to relax and meet up with friends.
In the past, coffee was always enjoyed sitting down in a coffee shop, where you would be offered a reusable china cappuccino cup to enjoy your beverage. Nowadays, with our often busy schedules, we don’t have time for a sit-down affair. You may be grabbing a coffee on your way somewhere, perhaps on your commute to work or when you’re out walking your dog. For this reason, the use of disposable cups has risen to accommodate our busy lives and enable us to enjoy coffee on the go.
Workplace culture
Needing a little wake-up in the morning or a pick-me-up as the day goes on, many of us turn to coffee, relying on a caffeine boost to help us concentrate, finish tasks, and get through the workday. A study by Lavazza USA found that free high-quality coffee at work was seen as an important perk, valued above a free gym membership, free food and bringing your pets to work.
Despite the efforts of companies to provide machine coffee instead of standard instant coffee, many of us still leave the office to buy coffee elsewhere. On average, employees who leave the office to buy a coffee spend 16 minutes per trip, adding up to a week's worth of hours annually.
Many chain coffee shops and independent coffee shops alike are noticing the impact of the waste produced by single-use takeaway cups. Instead of using traditional plastic or polystyrene foam cups that cannot be recycled, they're opting for paper cups instead. But how bad is each type of coffee cup? Let’s look at each type in a little more detail.
Disposable Coffee Cups
Polystyrene Cups
When coffee shops first opened, paper cups were the standard cup. However, with the invention of polystyrene foam in the 1960s, production was switched to polystyrene coffee cups since polystyrene offered better heat retention, could stay sanitary in storage, and was relatively inexpensive to produce.
However, the drawback of using polystyrene as a disposable coffee cup is that it’s a non-biodegradable substance that can take around 500 years to decompose. Polystyrene only begins to degrade when exposed to sunlight for a long time. Then once it becomes hot, it starts to leach out styrene - a contaminant which is harmful to the surrounding area and can get into our water sources and in turn into our bodies.
Likewise, the high quantities of polystyrene in our environment have harmed wildlife and ecosystems. When pieces of polystyrene are ingested by animals, it can be potentially life-threatening. As a result, most companies have moved towards paper, as a less harmful material.
Paper Cups
In recent years, there has been a conscious effort to use recyclable and biodegradable cups, as the more environmentally friendly alternative.
Paper cups are recyclable or compostable and will biodegrade when they’re put under the right conditions. However, often paper cups aren’t properly recycled or disposed of correctly. When they end up in landfills, they can take years to decompose, all the while releasing methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.
If you enjoy the ritual of taking your coffee to-go and have forgotten to bring a reusable cup, opt for a paper cup! At Marshall Wilson, we provide affordable eco-friendly paper cups that are recyclable and biodegradable and won’t break the bank. But, don’t forget to dispose of it properly by putting it in the correct recycling bin or composting it yourself at home!
Plastic Cups
While plastic cups don’t amount to the majority of the cups in the coffee industry, since coffee served hot runs the risk of melting the plastic, they are still used. This material can be used to carry cold drinks and newer coffee products like iced lattes or frappes. These types of drinks have become popular, particularly with younger generations, since they tend to have more flavour combinations and different sugar syrup options.
The impact of using plastic as a takeaway coffee cup is that, like polystyrene, plastic takes a long time to break down and contributes to plastic pollution. In fact, most of the plastic ever created still exists today! Plastic cups often make their way into waterways where they eventually break down into microplastics, damaging marine species and ecosystems. What’s more, emissions created from a single plastic coffee cup can range from 10g to 30g of CO2, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming.
On a lighter note, some companies are turning to a new form of plastic: polylactic acid, a bioplastic made from sugar cane, which is slightly more biodegradable. Although this is definitely an improvement, products made from plastic are still probably not the most eco-friendly option.
Reusable Cups
Nowadays, environmentally conscious populations like to come prepared by bringing their own reusable takeaway coffee cup. Reusable cups come in many shapes and sizes and can be made of materials like well-insulated metal, bamboo, glass, ceramic, or plastic.
Although a plastic reusable cup may sound counterintuitive, as we’re trying to move away from the overproduction of plastic, the type of plastic used is intended for long-term use and is more resistant to breaking down. Assuming the cup doesn’t get damaged or lost prematurely, it becomes the more environmentally friendly option if it’s reused many times. Yet, if you want to avoid plastic completely, one of the other alternatives, like metal or glass, might suit you better.
In an ideal world, all customers would bring their own reusable cups to a coffee shop to be refilled, preventing the need for companies to supply disposable coffee cups. That said, relying on the consumer in this way could cause a massive decline in profit, causing people to avoid buying a coffee if they haven’t brought their mug with them, so, it’s not the most reasonable solution to eradicate disposable coffee cups completely.
Marshall Wilson
At Marshall Wilson, we’re an environmentally conscious packaging company that offers wholesale recyclable packaging supplies across the UK.
We understand that as UK populations are big foodies and that enjoying high-quality food and beverages isn’t something we should compromise on. That’s why our vending machine cups and eco-friendly coffee cups are recyclable and biodegradable. So our customers can enjoy a cup of coffee, wherever or whenever they’d like, with the peace of mind that they aren’t harming the environment for generations to come.
If you are looking for a new food and drink packaging supplier for recyclable coffee cups, or other eco-friendly food and drink packaging products like pizza boxes or takeaway containers, get in touch today. Alternatively, you can call us at 0141 445 3199 or visit us at our showroom at 39 Bogmoor Place, Glasgow, G51 4TQ.
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