DelganynowIreland’sfirst fullyconsciouscupvillage
Delgany village has recently become the first fully conscious cup destination in Ireland and the UK.
All cafés in Delgany now offer a discount on hot drinks to customers with reusable cups.
Every year, over 200 million takeaway cups are disposed of in Ireland and disposable cups are not always recyclable.
Delgany cafes are all in agreement that buying a reusable coffee cup is just one of many ways people can reduce and reuse, but sometimes they need that extra little push to make sure to use it. They believe a reusable cup discount does the trick.
Zoe Woodward from Delgany Tidy Towns was contacted by the Conscious Cup Campaign and, on hearing about what they were doing, decided that it would be the perfect campaign for Delgany to get involved with.
‘ Their goals are totally in line with the Delgany Tidy Towns ethos,’ said Ms Woodward. ‘It was an easy concept for us to get behind and the coffee outlets in Delgany were fully supportive of it when we spoke to them about coming on board.’
For one of the cafes, this was something they already had in place.
According to Patrick Ryan, owner of The Firehouse Bakery: ‘ This is something that we have done since we first opened our doors almost five years ago. Our philosophy for the bakery has always been to use the best ingredients, support local and that, no matter what we do, it had to be driven by passion for food and hard work and I guess this is just something that has extended across all areas of the business. Accepting reusable cups is a little thing but it is the little things that add up and the more we can all do no matter how small has to make a difference.’
Although some cups can now be recycled if composted correctly, it is always better to reuse than to recycle.
Woodward said: ‘In the end, the power lies with the public to make the switch and show others how it’s done. We’ve seen it happen with the change from plastic bags to reusable shopping bags now it’s time for us to do the same with disposable cups.’