Reusable coffee cups for the office

From 2023, it should be common practice in the office to drink coffee or tea from mugs or cups instead of disposable cups. So reusable coffee cups for the office are becoming the norm. Reusable cups are also becoming the norm in other places where drinks are consumed on site. All this to be fully circular by 2050 and no longer contribute to the immense plastic waste mountain what the world is going through right now.

Do you have any idea how many disposable cups and food packaging we wear out every year?

You probably have no idea how many disposable cups and food packaging we use every year. Logical, because that is of course not something you think about every day, let alone work on. Still, it's good to paint a picture. Every day, 19 million disposable drinking cups and food packaging are used and thrown away in the Netherlands. That brings the total to 7 billion units per year. You read that right. A large part of this is collected with the plastic waste, but an equal part ends up on the street and in nature. Our oceans are now full of them with all the consequences that entails. Everyone has seen images of sea turtles, whales, killer whales and other marine life with plastic.

The use of disposable plastic must be drastically reduced by 2026 .

In recent years, European agreements have been made that the use of disposable plastic must be drastically reduced by 2026. Member States may decide for themselves how to implement this. The Dutch Minister of the Environment has therefore opted for these measures.

This will have a major impact, especially in the office. Although disposable coffee cups look like paper in the office, they are actually coated with plastic to hold hot drinks like tea and coffee. In practice, this type of packaging often turns out to be difficult to recycle, so that much of the material is ultimately not recycled but incinerated, and that is exactly what we do not want. Burning (plastic) waste causes extra CO2 emissions. As if our problems in that area weren't big enough already.... Therefore become reusable coffee cups the norm in the office.

Cups and mugs for the office

In offices, the disposable coffee cups are easy to replace with reusable alternatives, such as cups and mugs. However, this is not an option or desirable for every company. Not every company has access to dishwashing facilities and many employees find loading and unloading the dishwasher at home quite a job. If this is the case for your company, these may, exceptionally, remain disposable cups. However, this is subject to a condition. This means that three-quarters of these disposable cups must be collected by the company itself for high-quality recycling. From 2026, however, that rule will also change and at least 90 percent of the coffee cups must be collected for recycling. According to experts, this will be an extremely expensive and impracticable measure.

Reusable coffee cups for the office

So the best thing companies can do is buy reusable coffee cups for the office. Each employee takes care of his or her own cup, such as washing the dishes at home. This way you not only get rid of the plastic disposable cups, but you also don't have to meet all the above requirements or make dishwashing facilities. In addition, a reusable coffee cup is a very nice marketing tool. After all, you can have it printed with your own logo. Also as a promotional gift, a reusable coffee cup with logo is of course not a bad idea…….