SUCFree — Wāhi Tukurua

person putting single use cup in rubbish bin

Single Use Cups

295 million beverage cups (many of them hot, takeaway beverage cups) are thrown away each year in New Zealand. 295 Million! These single use cups are produced using valuable resources and then used for only a few minutes!

As we currently don’t have commercial composting in Coromandel Peninsula District the “compostable” or “biodegradable” cups are also heading to the landfill and are actually even worse environmentally!

Recycling isn’t an option either for most single use coffee cups as they are generally made with paper or cardboard and then lined with plastic.

We cannot continue like this - it is senseless to be using precious resources to create single use items and then promptly adding them to growing landfills. We desperately need to think before we drink and choose reusables.

We need to get the word out about the importance of choosing to reuse.

Single Use Cups (SUC) Free Mercury Bay

Horrified by these statistics and inspired by campaigns in other regions we began talking to local coffee vendors (cafe owners, garages, coffee carts and concession holders) about the problem, benefits and any issues they could see.

We gathered their feedback in our Vendor Takeaway Cup Survey - this is still open for any businesses selling hot coffees and we’d love to hear from you. Contact our SUC Free Mercury Bay Ambassadors by hopping onto the SUC Free Mercury Bay Facebook page

Our Community Sentiment Survey is open now to gauge awareness and interest in a whole-of-Whitianga response to our single use cup problem. We will be starting the conversation, publishing results, sharing ideas and building momentum via Wāhi Tukurua website, Wāhi Tukurua facebook page and watch out in 2024 for the SUC Free Mercury Bay Facebook page.

Want to get involved? Reach out via hello@wahitukurua.co.nz or message us via Facebook.