Plastic is killing the sea
Why do Greek-Cypriots and Greeks have this perverse desire to drink coffee out of plastic? And just when think could not get worse, sipped through a plastic straw.
I would no more dream of drinking coffee from plastic than I would wine or a craft beer.
For a freddo cappuccino it looks terrible in plastic, it losses all the visual appeal of a well made freddo cappuccino served in glass.
Why not show coffee the respect it deserves?
Coffee is a drink to relax with, served in glass or ceramic.
I blame Coffee Island and Coffee Berry, bad coffee served in plastic, and all the bad coffee shops follow.
There are exceptions, speciality coffee shops in Nicosia and Athens, relax with a coffee served in glass or ceramic, but they are the exception, not the norm.
What appear to be paper coffee cups are not, not unless clearly state compostable, they are plastic lined and cannot be recycled.
Ironic the plastic coffee cups are by the sea.
Plastic is a modern day curse. The planet is being smothered by plastic the seas are dying, and with dead seas, the land dies.
Plastic breaks down in the sea, until we are left with tiny particles of plastic, the size of plankton.
Marine life mistakes plastic for plankton.
Little fish eat the plankton, big fish eat the little fish, bigger fish eat the big fish.
We eat the fish.
Toxic chemicals washed off the land adhere to the plastic.
The weight of plastic now exceeds that of plankton.
Marine life eats the bigger pieces of plastic. Sea birds and sea turtles die, their stomachs full of plastic.
By 2050, the weight of plastic will exceed the weight of fish.
Cyprus and Greece depend on tourism. The sea is a living place, not merely somewhere to rest and drink a coffee.
With plastic covered beaches, dead sea, the stench of rotting marine life, there will be no tourists.
There is nothing wrong with drinking coffee by the sea, one of life’s pleasures, if not an indie coffee shop by the beach, then please use a reusable glass KeepCup.
Greece and Cyprus need to follow the example of England, introduce a 25 cent latte levy to discourage takeaway coffee, and if that does not work introduce an outright ban. The money raised used to fund environmental projects.
