As you sip your morning cuppa while reading this, consider these facts. We are in a climate crisis. Climate emergencies are being declared across the world. And, although to many the connection has not been made, the mass consumption of single use cups is most definitely contributing to this crisis globally.
As you sip your morning cuppa while reading this, consider these facts. We are in a climate crisis. Climate emergencies are being declared across the world. And, although to many the connection has not been made, the mass consumption of single use cups is most definitely contributing to this crisis globally.
Hundreds of millions of single use cups are bought and discarded in Scotland every year. These cups are becoming a symbol of the impact of unsustainable consumption on the environment.
Sounds depressing but read on, because there are some great things happening to address the problem here in Scotland. There are things we can all do to really make a difference.
We work with a diverse range of stakeholders and individuals, every day to help them change the way that they think about our environment and to encourage them to take action to protect it. We focus on climate change, litter prevention and behaviour change, and unsustainable levels of consumption. We have chosen to do this under the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – 17 Global Goals introduced to set out a positive vision for the future.
Goal 12 is about Sustainable consumption and production. It challenges us to “substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse”, and behaviour change is at the heart of this.
There’s no better example of how we can do that than our Cup Movement® in Glasgow. Launched in January, the campaign was developed in response to growing public concern about the environmental impact of single-use items. by bringing one of the first bespoke cup recycling services to Scotland with Simply Cups, while using social marketing and public engagement to promote reuse to cup users and businesses, and encourage appropriate disposal when recycling is not possible to prevent thousands being littered annually. We also aim to work with everyone who sells, buys and uses cups to trial interventions to find solutions that work and encourage everyone to make more sustainable choices.
With an estimated 95 million single-use cups being used in the Greater Glasgow area every year, our pioneering Cup Movement® tackles this issue head on.
In Glasgow only 19% of people use a reusable cup, with only 5% doing so regularly. But, if a 20p charge on every cup that is used can perhaps shift one in five people towards reusable, that is a massive step in the right direction. And, in the short to medium term, as we encourage people to shift their consumption behaviours, we need to provide them with a range of alternative options to reduce, reuse or recycle. Most people don’t know that single use cups are made of both paper and plastic but can be recycled. In terms of recycling, currently, only 4% of cups are recycled nationally – which means a shocking 96% are not.
But it is very clear, from our attitudinal research, that there is an appetite from the public to do the right thing with 69% of people in Glasgow reporting a willingness to recycle their cups. The problem is, the system is complicated and so people don’t know how to do it properly – only 12% used a cup recycling bin so this means that the remaining ones went to landfill. It is likely that recycling will always play an important part in the waste hierarchy, so, as part of our Cup Movement, we are working to increase awareness that cups must be collected and recycled separately and are working with stakeholders to improve the recycling infrastructure.
As part of our Cup Movement, we are working to increase awareness that cups must be collected and recycled separately and are working with stakeholders to improve the recycling infrastructure.
It was interesting to note the proposals from the Scottish Government’s independent expert panel which included an interesting suite of measures, including promoting reuse and recycling, many of which we are addressing in Glasgow through our Cup Movement. The proposal which grabbed the headlines was the suggestion that each single use cup be subject to a levy of between 20p and 25p, this combined with the other themes highlighted in the report could drive real change.
I know that changing behaviour is very difficult – to do it well we need joined up action. And, there are barriers to that action. We need to admit that for some single use will always be part of life. We need to improve infrastructure, to educate and support public to understand the consequences of their actions, and to eventually change their behaviours. But what we are seeing in Glasgow is a desire to try, from the public and the broad coalition of stakeholders.
We need to improve infrastructure, to educate and support public to understand the consequences of their actions, and to eventually change their behaviours.
Our Cup Movement in Glasgow is replicable across Scotland and soon we will be able to share our findings. Judging by the early evidence, there is no shortage of employers, retailers, shopping centres, transport hubs and others looking to join in and be part of our Cup Movement. Retailers including Pret-a-Manger and Costa, and other key organisations like Scotrail, Glasgow City Council, the Chamber of Commerce and Buchannan Galleries are promoting reuse and testing cup collection and recycling.
For all our sakes, reducing single use cup waste needs to work. If you are reading this whilst consuming your favourite morning brew, in a single use cup, take time to ponder what impact changing your choice of cup to a reusable would actually have on your life, and what benefit it could have on our environment.
The single use cups are indicative of our society’s unsustainable consumption – which we all need to play a part in changing if we are to meet the ambitions of the Global Goals in order to protect our planet for future generations.
Derek Robertson is Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful.
@DerekRobertsonA
First published in The Scotsman on 29 July 2019.
