To want my coffee in a proper cup when drinking in?

[Rollergirl11]

I’m sat in the cafe of a leisure centre while my daughter is in her dance class. I’ve just ordered a coffee and the girl serving gave it to me in a takeaway cup. I said sorry but I’m sitting in and could I have a proper coffee cup. She said she has cleared them all away as they close at 6pm. It wasn’t even 5.30 when I ordered it so at least 30 mins away!

I’m seriously confused!

Seriously? Just drink your coffee ffs.

I insist that the cup has a hole in the top. Everything else is secondary.

I am not qualified to say which in environmentally preferable: paper or a cup which requires detergent and hot water to clean it, so I won't try. Doesn't the same question arise and circulate ad nauseam about nappies?

@andrew

I don’t know, but I’ve only heard how terrible paper cups are as they are almost impossible to recycle and things don’t really degrade in landfill, (even if they are biodegradable), as it’s so squashed full.

With nappies, it’s down to how you wash and dry them, how energy efficient your washing machine is, where your electricity comes from etc.

I personally think disposability is one of the newer and more damaging polluters we have, but I’m not an expert, if just seems like common sense; the paper cup company has to produce and deliver the cup to the cafe, it gets used once and then gets picked up to take to landfill, whereas a china cup is produced once and used many times. Yes, it has to be washed and dried, probably in a dishwasher, but I think it’s easier to make dishwashers energy efficient than to produce limitless paper cups to be squished into landfill. And if you take your own cup, you control how it’s washed and dried, a bit like if you choose reusable nappies.

Happy to be corrected on all that though.

Disposable nappies don’t degrade for 500 years I think? So, if Henry VIII has been in disposables, his nappies would still be lurking around somewhere!

Costa recycle not just their own takeaway cups but anyone else's if people drop them in, so that's the only place I'll use them. Yes to KeepCups.

I’ve googled (sooo scientific) and there’s a study with a break even point for how many uses your reusable cup would need before it was as energy efficient as disposable; apparently it’s 16 uses for plastic or 25 for metal.

”Ultimately, pinning down a “break even” number is difficult because precise lifecycle assessments require a mix of many complicating factors. Additionally, the efficiency of one paper production plant to another may vary, as does the fuel used to transport different reusable mugs before they end up on the store’s shelf. In the end, you may have to decide what resource demands the most conservation or attention, whether it’s the water for washing those reusable mugs or the waste polluting our oceans.”

My personal view on this^^ is that I’d rather use a reusable, so I have some say in how efficiently it’s washed, as I can do it myself. Also, I think the problem with sending unlimited disposable cups to landfill would have longer lasting effects for future generations, so I’d still be polluting long after I’m dead, which would suck.

Sorry, ceramic, not metal^^

YANBU - if I go out for a coffee it is a bit of a treat, I don't want a takeaway cup and I don't want a mug.

Too many people working in the service industry are more concerned about their own convenience than making the experience nice for the customer - and yes, I have worked in retail and hospitality all my life so I feel I can justify my comments.

YABVU. Why should she hang around after work has finished and she's not being paid anymore just because you're fussy about what cup you have your coffee from?

if I go out for a coffee it is a bit of a treat, I don't want a takeaway cup and I don't want a mug.

She didn't go out for coffee; it wasn't a treat. She took her daughter to the leisure centre for a dance class and decided to grab a quick drink while she was there.

Why does it matter?

Because disposable coffee cups can't be recycled and are hugely wasteful. Much prefer a proper china mug.

" and always end up burning my mouth when sipping through the little hole"
Take the lid off :o

I would raise this with the management, but I try and take me own cup with me.

Disposables are very wasteful.

What - in my opinion it is still a bit of a treat to buy a coffee out, even if you are 'just' at the Leisure centre watching your child swim.

For some people a coffee out has to be budgeted for and something you look forward to, not everyone has money to throw around at coffees all the time.

Ragwort The leisure centre is just going to do a standard coffee, probably nowhere even near as nice as the ones you can make at home yourself.

OP may correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't get the impression this was a "treat coffee", but a "pass the time coffee".

For some people yes, but there is no indication that is the case here.

Pass the time coffee is a treat.

Otherwise OP would only be sitting there like a lemon.

I hate takeaway cups. How would you feel if you went to a friend's for coffee and got it in a cardboard cup. Chna takes 2/3 of our recyclable plastc and cardboard and from March 2018 are refusing most of it so even more reason not to use plastic and cardboard unnecessarily.

What do Costa do to recycle...use it here or send it abroad??

www.edie.net/news/5/Costa-Coffee-cup-recycling-scheme-with-Veolia/

Just take the lid off!

Yes I want a China cup or mug and real milk if I’m drinking in.
It’s just not as nice in a disposable one