Germany creates disposable coffee cups to reduce overuse of plastics

Berlin, February 23: Following the green initiatives in almost all sectors there are still some areas which needs to be renewed and make changes like the disposal of plastic. Plastic has become a universal problem and to overcome this problem the government is taking many initiatives. One such problem is the disposal of plastic cups.

Knowing the struggle is real, the German city Freiburg has taken it upon themselves to provide citizens with an easy reusable cup system. Rather than expecting its residents to bring their own, or buy a brand new one on the spot, Freiburg has created the Freiburg Cup, a hard plastic to-go cup with a disposable lid to those customers.

Whether getting a coffee, smoothie, or fountain soda, paper, plastic and styrofoam disposable cups are everywhere. And after using them to drink your single beverage, they're thrown away and either remains in a landfill for years or slowly decompose and leach toxins into the environment.

Participating stores have an identifying green sticker in the window. When you return the cup, these stores will disinfect and reuse the cups, which can be reused up to 400 times. This reusable cup option is particularly relevant in Germany where approximately 300,000 cups of coffee are consumed per hour, using 2.8 billion coffee cups a year, all of which are used for an average of 13 minutes before being tossed out.

The easy answer to solve this problem is to forgo the disposable cup in favor of a reusable one that you carry with you, conveniently available for all your beverage holding needs. But we all know that the reality of that is often harder than it sounds. Remembering your cup is a challenge, and sometimes you just need that midday caffeine pick-me-up. So you guiltily use the paper cup, and throw it away.