What’s in a cup?
UCC Green Campus
UCC’s University Wide Module on Sustainability is in full swing again this year. This is the third year that the module has been run, and it continues to gain strength year on year. The module is a great example of how the sustainability agenda is becoming embedded across all functions of our university including our teaching, operational, research and outreach activities. The module explores the multiple dimensions of sustainability, taking an interdisciplinary approach. The speakers challenge us to reflect on our modern lifestyles and the approaches that are being taken thus far in tackling global issues such as environmental degradation and inequality. At one of the recent sessions, the question was posed “what difference can I really make by reusing my coffee cup?”
In September 2017, through the “Love our Library” campaign, UCC Library and Green Campus committee declared war on disposable cups. And we’re not alone. The “Conscious Cup Campaign” have launched a nationwide initiative to pressure cafes into incentivising the use of reusable mugs. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, Denis Naughton, wants to introduce a levy for customers opting to use a disposable cup. So why are we doing this? Each year we dispose of 200 million coffee cups in Ireland. The majority of these cups are made from a composite of plastic and paper, which is extremely difficult to recycle. What about compostable cups you ask? Compostable cups are an improvement on the plastic lined version but: a) they need to be disposed of properly in order to reap the benefit, and b) they are still a single-use item that has become prolific in our culture today. Best practice when it comes to waste management is always reduction at source. When we look a little closer at the current situation globally around the production, consumption, and disposal of plastic we begin to see why that’s the case.
Over the last six decades 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced, only 9% of which has been recycled. It’s estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. As consumers we have become locked into a system where it’s easier for us to do the more environmentally damaging thing. By now we’ve all seen the photos of a whale washed up on a beach with plastic straws in its mouth, or the plastic “islands” in the middle of the ocean. We’ve heard the scary statistic that over 70% of fish in the deep sea have ingested plastic. Yes, that’s THE DEEP SEA, over 1800m below the surface. We might not hear so much about the fact that this increasing production of plastic is reliant on oil production, and that plastics’ share of global oil production is likely to increase 3x over the next three decades. We also might not realise that plastic production has a significant carbon footprint, and this in turn is likely to increase exponentially over the coming years. This is a massive environmental issue on a global scale and policy makers need to act sooner rather than later to redesign our current system. But we have a role to play as well. That’s why we are encouraging our campus community to think before reaching for that disposable cup. It’s hoped that by questioning our reliance on the single-use cup we might also begin to wonder; do I really need that plastic straw/bag/spoon…?
At the recent UCC Climate Conference, organised by the Environmental Society, Professor Sarah Culloty spoke to this very topic in her opening address, highlighting the importance of individuals feeling empowered to take action. These sentiments are also at the heart of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which recognise that these ambitious “global goals” require “local action.” It is through these collective individual actions that we can have a real impact and nowhere is this truer than on a university campus. UCC is effectively a small city with a population of ca. 25,000 people who study, work, live, eat, drink and socialise within our boundary. The removal of small bins from the Boole Library will save us 10,000 plastic bin liners a year. If one caffeine addicted student stops buying one disposable cup each day of term that’s a conservative 150 cups a year; if 100 students commit to going disposable free that’s 15,000 fewer cups; if 1,000 students-… we could go on!
As a university, we are a centre of learning and experimentation; we have opportunities to push boundaries, to challenge paradigms, and ultimately to influence broader society. We may make mistakes along the way, we may not please everyone, but as a “living laboratory” we can help others to learn from our experiences and shape their own responses to these enormous global challenges. So what’s in a cup? Aside from the memory of the fossil fuels used to produce it and the potential to end up in the belly of a whale, there is a symbol for how we as a campus can collectively work together to say no to single-use and to pressure those with the power to change the system to act on our behalf to do so. Oh and of course here at UCC there is also the 10cent that you will save when you opt to reuse.
