Attention caffeine-addicted Council workers…

If you like to start your day with a strong coffee, you better ensure you have a vessel to drink it from.

Starting next week, disposable single-use beverage cups will no longer be available at Cork City Council.

Local authority staff are being encouraged to use environmentally friendly reusable mugs instead in a bid to reduce the two million coffee cups that are sent to landfill in Ireland every day.

From next week, disposable single-use cups will no longer be available at Cork City Council. Staff being encouraged to use these environmentally friendly reusable cups instead #coffeecupban #Reuse #Recycle pic.twitter.com/CqGMG7vV0b

— Cork City Council (@corkcitycouncil) January 10, 2018

Incredibly, many common disposable cups can each take up to 30 years to decompose.

With our flat white addiction showing no signs of waning, the Green Party has called for an outright ban on non-recyclable beverage containers. Meanwhile, politicians are threatening a ‘latte levy’ to deal with the growing recycling problem and the Irish government is investigating whether a cup return scheme might be a solution to be rolled out in Irish cafés.

Back on Leeside and Cork City Council is the first local authority to ban the single-use cups. Council workers are being encouraged to switch to a re-usable ‘keep cup’, an easy-to-carry cup with a silicone lid, which are being supplied ton each member of staff free of charge.