Voxpop: Recycling throwaway coffee cups

I went out onto the streets of Cardiff to ask the public’s opinions on what could be done by coffee chains to encourage the recycling of disposable coffee cups.  Here is what they had to say:

Karen Saunders, 26, BBC Researcher, Llandaff

“I think just little things like separate bins, for cups, for stirrers, for paper, you know.  At the moment, it all gets chucked in.  If they make it clear that that’s what they’re doing.  Even incentives, so if you take your cup back or if you recycle it, they give you a voucher or, you know, something like that, to encourage you to come back.”

Hyosun Pak, 28, City Centre

“I’m from South Korea and where I come from they charge some fees for the cups and if you drink inside you can have a mug instead of the paper cups.  So, I think maybe the government can do something about it, then gradually people will use less cups.”

Trystan Hopkin, 30, Teacher, Canton

“First of all, use recyclable material, explain why it’s important to recycle, what effects not recycling has on the world and its future and also, obviously, recycle.

“Maybe cut down on plastic material, cut down on packages that carry sugar, just have mounds of sugar instead of paper sachets.”

Boyd Thomas, 27, Duty Manager at O’Neills, Roath

“They could write to their suppliers and get their suppliers to recycle the cups.  They might want to reproduce recycled cups themselves so they’re increasing the percentage of the recycling that they’re doing over the course of the year and then separating everything out seems to help quite a bit.  The council run quite good services for recycling here.”

Yvonne Murray, 52, Civil Servant, Heath

“What if they gave people, if they made people buy a travel mug, and perhaps, you know, tried to make them use them everyday, bring them with them?  Like the Thermos ones, with a pretty design on, you know, cause people like that, don’t they?  Nice girly pink, glittery.”

Helen Sheldon, 42, Guest House Proprietor, Fishguard

“Oh gosh, I think it’s very difficult for them.  If they’re using the paper cups for inside cups of coffee, that’s a bit crazy, but I think, I really don’t know where they’ve got to go, I don’t know what options they’d have, cause it’s a very competitive market.”

Sian Rowlands, 25, Draftsman, Penylan

“I used to work for Starbucks and we tried very hard to recycle all the plastic, but we had no paper recycling facilities.  It’s probably not entirely the store’s fault.  It’s what recycling facilities are available in the stores.  Providing cardboard recycling, not just the plastic.  At the end of the day, if they haven’t got the facilities to carry out the recycling, how can you expect them to do it?”