Did you watch Channel NewsAsia‘s recent Trash Trail episode? The 22-minute documentary revealed (to everyone’s horror) that disposable paper cups aren’t an eco-friendly alternative to Styrofoam after all. Contrary to what we’ve believed — which is that paper cups do the least damage to the environment as compared to plastic or Styrofoam ones — used paper cups actually cannot be recycled here because of hygiene reasons.
Also, paper cups are made of raw materials that weigh five times more than those used for foam ones, and they’re usually made with virgin paper from tree pulp instead of recycled materials. Turns out, manufacturing foam cups actually takes up less energy and water. But still, those foam bits take more than a million years to decompose.
So a better solution is to bring your own tumblers when you’re off on a coffee run. You’ll get 50 cents off your drink if you do that at big coffee chains like Starbucks or Coffee Bean — and from now till March, cafes are getting in on the action with discounts of 50 cents, a dollar or 10 percent off when you give them your tumbler to fill up.
The 11 participating cafes are The Assembly Ground, A.R.C Coffee, Sarnies, Highlander Coffee, Symmetry, Xiao Ya Tou, Strangers’ Reunion, Curious Palette, Yellow Cup Coffee, Dapper Coffee and Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee.
Watch the ep below.
