A lot of us regularly visit coffee shops, either the ‘big’ brands like Starbucks, Costa, Wagas, etc, or our favorite neighborhood cafes. From a few times a week, to almost every other day. While a large part of us do takeaways, quite a few of us choose to drink at the cafe while reading a book, meeting friends or clients, or just going about our regular business.

However, have you ever wondered why (in recent years), more and more of the cafes, including your favorite friendly neighborhood ones, have begun serving your beverages to you in disposable cups even though you intend to drink it at the cafe?

This is where the problem, or let’s say the ‘irresponsibility’ begins - both on our part, as well as that of the coffee shops.

Disposable cups are actually a ‘convenient’ way for most coffee shops to transfer their problem to another being. Only this time, its OUR PLANET. While in the good’ol days they would have to wash + re-use their cups, an intention to save cost + make ‘convenient’ use of their limited kitchens they have begun to switch to disposables. And while most of these disposables are promoted as ‘recyclable’, VERY FEW of them are actually recycled. Most simply end up in landfills or incineration.

Waste creation and disposal is already a big issue, not just in Shanghai, but in China as a whole, as well as most other countries. In this situation, can we still afford to drink our beverages in disposable cups, especially when we plan to sit at the cafe?

With this in mind Green Initiatives launches The No-Disposables campaign. The goal of this project is:

1. to raise awareness on the problem of waste, and disposables
2. to reduce the amount of ‘disposables’ waste, and
3. to get people involved in being part of the solution in a simple, effortless way