Do we want to save 3 billion paper cups a year?

Whether cappuccino, green tea, or chai latte: warm drinks are a constant necessity, and not just during the colder months. On the way to the office or university, on the tram, train, or car – hot drinks to go are no longer just available at 7-Eleven, the chain that helped the to-go cup achieve its breakthrough in 1964 , but on every street corner. We've become accustomed to this luxury, perhaps even too much so. We rarely consider how environmentally damaging this to-go business is. Goodness, what's one used plastic or paper cup a day? Besides, we drink our takeaway coffee on the train, so we're traveling in an environmentally friendly way. Surely a plastic cup...

Only a quarter of an hour in use

This attitude is understandable. But the problem of overflowing garbage bins – especially in big cities – isn't getting any smaller. On closer inspection, it's actually cardboard and plastic takeaway cups that are causing inner-city garbage bins to overflow. After all, almost three billion disposable cups are used every year, in Germany alone. That's 320,000 every hour ! If you put the cups in a chain, it would circle the Earth at the equator seven times. Quite an impressive feat.

But the problem isn't just the huge mountain of waste, but also the resources wasted in its production. With the 3 billion cups we use in Germany alone, that's about 50,000 trees, 1,500,000,000 liters of water , and roughly as much energy as a city of 100,000 inhabitants uses annually . And these figures don't even include the production of the plastic lids, stirrers, and cardboard sleeves to protect against hot fingers! And if you're thinking, "Everything gets recycled," recycling disposable cups is unfortunately not as easy as you might think. Even if a cup is made of pure cardboard on the outside, it has at least a plastic layer on the inside, and usually a plastic lid on top. And who takes that apart before the cup ends up in the trash?

Nevertheless, the ability to enjoy a delicious hot drink almost anytime and anywhere is a civilizing achievement . Many people, myself included, simply have a need for it, so it should be catered for. But wouldn't it be nice if we could continue to enjoy our takeaway coffee but (largely) do without disposable cups?

Disposable is out: great alternatives

The good news: There are already excellent alternatives. Here are four of them, ranked from "at least a start" to "perfect, no more waste is generated."

1. Upcycling to-go cups

On average, a takeaway cup becomes trash after just 15 minutes, according to calculations by the German Environmental Aid . It will probably never be possible to completely avoid having to buy disposable cups. But they don't necessarily have to end up in the trash after use. Keyword "upcycling." Empty cups, for example, make ideal small planters. Find more great repurposing ideas at earth911.com .

2. Vegware

Even better: to-go cups made from ecological materials that are completely compostable. There are now many examples and producers of this, such as Planttrash or greenbox . However, a lot of energy is consumed in production, and whether the products are actually composted is at least questionable. But even if these cups are ultimately incinerated, they are still significantly less harmful than "regular" disposable cups.

3. Deposit system

An obvious idea, but one that's only slowly gaining traction: a deposit system for coffee cups. Initial tests are already underway in Hamburg and Freiburg , among other places. I consider this a very good alternative, but it's currently only accessible to a few consumers and has therefore landed only in second place.

4. Your own thermos cup

First things first: The Food Hygiene Regulations allow coffee shops to fill cups brought from home. So, if you're thinking about purchasing a stylish thermal mug for daily use, you're doing the environment a huge favor. The selection of stylish products is vast. In our Facebook page, the corresponding discussion featured not only the Shuyao tea-to-go cups, but also the emsa Bescher and the keepcups .

The main problem here is probably that you don't always have your mug with you when your thirst for coffee sets in. But hey, 50% of cases is a start, and for the other 50%, there are solutions 1-3. With that in mind: raise your mugs!