A cup a cup my kingdom for a conscious cup – campaign to encourage switch to reusable cups

Very Rev Niall Sloane, Mayor James Collins and Gordon Daly of Limerick City and County Council at the launch of the Kings Island Conscious Cup Project. Photo: Alan Place

THE green theme that has swept Limerick over the past few weeks is continuing with the launch of The Kingโ€™s Island Conscious Cup Campaign whichย aims to reduce and eventually eliminate single-use cups.

The central focus of the campaign is to encourage people to switch to reusable cups with businesses offering an incentive in return.

Because of the combination of plastic and paper in their design, disposable coffee cups are virtually impossible to recycle. An estimated 200 million of these non-recyclable cups are disposed of in Ireland every year.

Staff of the Environment Awareness department of Limerick City and County Council have contacted every relevant business on Kingโ€™s Island to see if they would be willing to be part of the campaign.

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Nine local businesses have registered with the campaign and are offering a 20 cent discount on take out coffee for anyone who brings their own reusable cup.ย They are Abbey Bridge Cafรฉ,ย Absolute Hotel,ย Katie Dalyโ€™s,ย King Johnโ€™s Castle,ย Limerick City and County Council,ย The Locke,ย Stix,ย Nellyโ€™s Corner andย Traceyโ€™s while a 5 cent discount is offered atย St Maryโ€™s Community Cafรฉ.

Mayor James Collins said that preventing waste and litter was a key part of managing the impact of litter and waste on the environment.

โ€œThe Conscious Cup Campaign is an excellent national initiative and I am delighted to see the business on Kingโ€™s Island coming together to support it,โ€ he said.

Dean of St Maryโ€™s Cathedral the Very Reverend Niall J Sloane said the cathedral community was delighted to support and work on the initiative with their partners on Kingโ€™s Island and the wider Limerick community.

Environmental Awareness Officer Sinead McDonnell said the Conscious Cup Campaign would bring a renewed focus on reuse and waste and litter prevention for Limerick businesses and citizens.

Limerick City Tidy Towns group chairperson Helen O Donnell said the Kingโ€™s Island initiative would form a definite action for the Cityโ€™s 2019 Tidy Towns application.

โ€œItโ€™s heartening to see that the businesses have been so receptive and willing to be part of the campaign. It will benefit everyone in the long run,โ€ she said.

Once a business registers with the Conscious Cup Campaign, they mustย list on their pricing displays that they accept reusable cups andย train staff to give a discount to those using a reusable cup.

Other Limerick businesses includeย The Hunt Museum Cafรฉ,ย Chez Le Fab,ย Creedโ€™s Shop in Elton, and the Green Onion in addition to all Butlers, Cafรฉ Noirs, BBs, Applegreens, Starbucks and Insomnia cafes in the city.

More details at www.consciouscup.ie or by emailingย [email protected]

by Tom McCullough
[email protected]

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