Monthly Archives: October 2017

Over 2.6 million coffee cups are thrown in Vancouver’s garbage EVERY WEEK. That is approximately 135 million cups per year! This number only represents Vancouver which is only one city amongst thousands of others that also use an alarming number of disposable coffee cups. The UK throws away 49 million cups every week, and Australians throw away around 19 million cups every week. These numbers add up so quickly and there is such an easy solution that could vastly decrease the waste that coffee sales generate – use a reusable cup! However, the number of people that would actually be on board with bring a reusable cup for their morning/afternoon/anytime coffee is a very minuscule number in the grand scheme. Most people don’t know about how many cups are being used or just don’t care, so I believe cities need to think of creative ways to combat this issue.

If you didn’t know already, a paper coffee cup (although most people assume is recyclable) is not actually recyclable as a whole cup because of a plastic or wax lining on the inside. Most cities separate their paper and plastics recycling making it hard for them to deal with coffee cups. “What about the coffee cup recycling bin I see in coffee shops then?” is something you may ask, however many companies end up throwing these into the garbage because they don’t want to deal with it (as can be seen in the following video). However, coffee cups CAN be recycled at speciality recycling facilities that provide an extra step to separate the plastic from the paper.

A few ways that cities around the world are dealing with coffee cups include:

• Vancouver – putting a deposit on coffee cups to solve not only the problem of waste, but also poverty as many individuals in Vancouver make an income purely based on bottle deposits
• Melbourne – created an awareness campaign for the city by filling a tram with disposable cups and encouraging people to instead bring their own cups

• London – CupClub is the world’s first reusable, shared coffee cup system (think Mobi bikes but for coffee) launching in January 2018

There are several other cities that are also doing their part in working to reduce the waste that is generated from many people’s beloved pastime – coffee. I think the future definitely holds a lot of room for innovation in this field and I am intrigued to find out what will be happening down the road.

Do you like to travel? I know I do. Growing up internationally gave me the opportunity to travel to many different places with my family and I think that instilled the so-called ‘travel bug’ in me. I have already been to ~27 countries in the world, and have many more on my list. Through these travels and through research, I have realized how much of an impact foreigners can have on a local economy – and it isn’t always positive. For example, the elephant riding industry in Thailand is huge and is supported by tourists. These elephants are extremely mistreated and abused, however so many of the locals now rely on making a living from this industry because of the tourist support. We need to find a way to create more sustainable and ethical methods for locals to make a living and improve their economies. I want to continue traveling to the beautiful places we have in the world and see them for what they really are and not what tourists have done to them. I researched more into this and came upon the term ‘sustainable tourism’.

In 2015, ~1 in 7 people travelled internationally. This is a huge number and if these people are uneducated about the impacts of traveling, the world may degrade at an even faster rate. The UN has declared 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development to raise awareness of how sustainable tourism impacts economies as well as to mobilize everyone involved in the tourism industry to work together to create a positive change.

They will be promoting tourism in the following five areas:

(1) Inclusive and sustainable economic growth

(2) Social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction

(3) Resource efficiency, environmental protection and climate change

(4) Cultural values, diversity and heritage

(5) Mutual understanding, peace and security.

In my future travels I know I will utilize the many resources available on the Internet these days in regards to sustainable and eco-friendly travel. I will definitely research more about the countries I intend to visit including their economy, environment and social history. In addition, I will aim to do small things such as when I book my flight I will choose to pay the little bit extra to offset my carbon emissions. There are so many small ways we can create positive change in the tourism industry, so I urge you to make even one change next time you are booking a trip somewhere!