During the Zero Waste Week of 2023, one of the daily waste labs organized to draw attention to the disposable coffee cup. The disposable cup was mainly used by our visitors. Even though we collected this waste stream separately and offered it for recycling, we decided that we wanted to remove this stream from our office completely.
Zero Waste Week 2023 Learnings
Where are we a year later with the disposable coffee cup? Last year we introduced the ceramic coffee cup. Every employee has such a cup in his or her possession. We also offer coffee in a ceramic cup for visitors. This ensures that the disposable cup has been permanently removed from our office.
Inventory of disposable cups
What about the purchased inventory? Because with the transition to ceramics we still had a considerable stock of the disposable paper cup. And what do you do with such a stock? We list the options considered for you:
- Drawing up the stock in the office
- One-off disposal of this flow to the processing partner
- Donation of the disposable cups to charity
As a Zero Waste Office team, these options have been discussed extensively. The first option is the most interesting from an economic point of view, because the cups were still used. However, we felt this did not fit with the appearance of our office and with encouraging Zero Waste behavior.
The second option, to offer unused materials as residual flow, also did not feel like a good option for Milgro. Finally, the products are still usable.
We have therefore chosen to donate the disposable cups to a charity in which one of our colleagues is closely involved, namely the Buurtbuik. This initiative saves food from waste by collecting this food from catering establishments, supermarkets and greengrocers and sharing the meals with local residents.
Do you have inventory for which you are looking for a sustainable solution? We are happy to help!
De BuurtBuik rescues food and distributes free and healthy meals
Alternative to ceramics
In production environments, especially where food is produced, it is not possible for safety reasons to replace the disposable cup with ceramic. We also offer solutions for these environments:
- Paper cones
- Recyclable cups
Production environments often have water points for employees. Paper cones can provide a lasting solution. because these are not laminated or coated. Therefore, paper cones may be collected with paper. This ensures that no additional collection is required and that the cones can be recycled as paper flow.
Do you have a worm barrel or worm hotel in your company? Paper cones can also serve as food for the worms. In that case you also avoid additional transport of this paper residual flow.
There are also alternatives to paper. With washable cups, your organization also takes a step towards zero waste. The cups are made of plastic and washable. There are organizations that collect the cups, wash them for you and return them as reusable cups. Want to know more about these sustainable alternatives to the coffee cup? Contact us!
Tips or ideas?
Do you have any tips or ideas for preventing waste flows? Let us know! We would like to hear what you are doing to, for example, reduce food waste or avoid packaging waste. We will include your suggestions in our live blog in which we discuss innovative solutions for various waste flows.
