Use Your Mug Galway City

This was a campaign that lasted for 3 months in Galway City. During this time 9 cafes in the city did not sell coffee in paper cups. Instead you had to bring your own keep cup. The campaign was talked about all over the city and it helped get people into the habit of bringing their keep cups out with them. Once you pick up a good habit, it’s easy to keep doing it. This is a project that you could start in your town or village. Read more to see how they did it and how you can too.

 

 

 

Where?

Galway City

Who started this action?

Galway City Council

Fast Facts About the Project
  • 81% of people in Galway city said they owned a keep cup, but HARDLY ANY use it!
  • 9 cafes in the city agreed that for three months they would not sell tea or cofee in throw away cups. Instead the city council gave the cafes 1400 free keep cups that they could give to their customers
  • The project got into all the local media by putting up a person sized keep cup (see the picture) in different places around the city.
  • The council hopes that this will help get people to think more about using keep cups instead of throw away ones.
What makes this stand out?
  • It brought local businesses, the city council and the city community together.
  • The message was simple: it said you already have a keep cup, you should use it.
  • Getting people to know that you can save money and help the environment at the same time is a great idea for everybody.
Highlights
  • A big problem for the council is litter and waste from thrown away coffee cups and this campaign helps with that.
  • The city council started the project. This helped get businesses to join in more quickly.
  • An important lesson we learned was that we have the keep cups, we should bring them with us when we go out.
  • The campaign didn’t have to go on forever. Once people get into the habit, they keep using their keep cups.
SDG Alignment & Keywords
  • SDG 12: Sustainable consumption and production
  • SDG 13: Climate Action
  • SDG 15: Life on Land
  • SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Keywords: Community-Driven, Municipal, Waste. 

Why This Matters

Throw away drinks cups are wasteful and cause litter. In Ireland, every year we throw away 200 Million coffee cups. That is the same as 560,000 each day! If we all only used keep cups, it would be the same as planting nearly 300,000 trees – that’s 208 Croke park pitches of trees.

Find Out More about the project

Use Your Mug on the CARO website

Galway City Council Use Your Mug Video

Resources from Climate Connected that you can use to do this campaign in your area

 Developing Your Community Organization

Cleveland Toolkit

Tell Us About Your Own Community Sustainability Story

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