14,000 tonnes of coffee cups being dumped
EVERY year, 14,000 tonnes of coffee cups are thrown out in Ireland, according to the first detailed analysis of municipal waste in a decade.
The latest waste characterisation study, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) first since 2008, reported that coffee cups now account for almost 2% of all commercial and business waste.
Director general of the EPA, Laura Burke, said that home owners and businesses ‘still have a lot to improve upon when it comes to what we are putting in our bins’.
She said: ‘[The study] also highlights the changes we need to make as individuals and businesses to live more sustainably and meet Ireland’s waste recycling and recovery targets.’
There have been significant changes in various waste categories since the study was last carried out in 2008.
Photographs accompanying the report show workers laying out bags of rubbish on grids to allow small particle matter to fall to a sheet below, before all the bag’s contents are weighed and analysed.
Just 0.3% of waste placed in recycling bins are nappies, but they cause a significant problem for waste collectors because they can ‘represent a disproportionately large potential for contamination’ for such a small amount of waste.
Plastic waste has replaced organic waste as the primary waste category in mixed residual waste, with plastic waste rising from 13.6% to 18.6% since 2008.
Plastic is also the third largest recyclable waste category coming behind paper and cardboard.
Despite dropping significantly from the 54% in 2008, paper remains the largest recyclable waste category in 2018 with 34.4% of waste being paper.
In July, Recycling Ireland published a study which showed that 22,000 coffee cups are disposed of every hour in Ireland or up to 200 million single-use nonrecyclable beverage containers being thrown away every year.
The group warned that while many disposable cups carry the recyclable logo, the container might not be recyclable in Ireland and must be disposed of in general waste.
The EU has also taken up the issue of the single-use coffee cup. Under rules proposed by the European Commission in May, single-use plastic cups and food containers cannot be provided free of charge and a 15 cent ‘latte levy’ will be added for plastic cups, to help fund a new compostable litter collection system. According to the EPA, the overall share of paper waste has declined significantly.
Napkins and tissue paper form a major part of both household and non-household waste with tissue paper accounting for 10% of non-household waste.
AMONG the more startling findings in the latest report from the Environmental Protection Agency, two stood out because of the ease with which they could be remedied. Firstly, according to the EPA, we dispose of 14,000 tonnes of coffee cups a year. The vast majority of these ‘disposable’ cups are not suitable to be recycled.
Secondly, recycle bins are being plagued by soiled nappies, which contaminate the bins and cause ten times their weight of recyclable material to be destroyed.
A report in today’s Mail shows how some of the best minds on the planet are coming up with far-fetched schemes to help save us from the worst effects of climate change. These include a suggestion to move the planet by deflecting an asteroid into our path and a scheme to send a giant airship into the stratosphere to mimic the effects a 1991 volcano eruption in the Philippines.
For the rest of us, however, we might do our bit for the environment in a more straightforward manner. Instead of buying coffee in non-recyclable, disposable cups, buy a reusable-cup, use it, wash it, and use it again. And don’t throw soiled nappies in the recycling bin. It’s not rocket science, but it will help.