The Coffee Friends Club, an initiative by charity organisation the City Friends Club, is tackling the growing problem of single-use waste in Cyprus. As part of this programme, customers who bring their own reusable cups can enjoy discounts of up to 15 per cent at 16 participating coffee shops across Limassol.
A Brewing Eco Crisis
Picture this: it’s a typical morning rush. You stop at your favorite coffee shop, grab a steaming coffee in a disposable cup, and head out. By the time you reach your office or finish your errands, the cup has served its purpose – and ends up in the nearest bin, or worse, on the street. Now, multiply this habit by thousands of coffee lovers doing the same thing daily. The impact is staggering.
So, what’s the environmental cost of your to-go coffee? Every year, millions of disposable coffee cups end up in landfills, contributing to an alarming rise in waste. Most paper cups are lined with plastic, making them difficult to recycle and harmful to the environment.
According to WWF, once dumped, these cups take up to 30 years to decompose. And if you’re sipping an iced coffee in a plastic cup, that waste lingers for hundreds of years, breaking down into microplastics that infiltrate our oceans, wildlife, and even our bodies.
A 2022 report from the Kent School of Business highlighted the long-term damage caused by coffee cup waste, emphasising the urgent need for change.
In Cyprus – where coffee is practically a religion – single-use cups are one of the major contributors to pollution. Without a shift in consumer habits, this daily convenience will continue to take a heavy toll on the environment.
How to Sip Sustainably
The Coffee Friends Club offers a simple yet effective solution: encouraging sustainable habits. By rewarding customers with discounts for using reusable cups, the initiative helps reduce waste, promote eco-friendly choices, and raise awareness about the impact of single-use plastics.
“We want to make sustainability easy and rewarding for everyone,” says Anna Gubareva, CEO and founder of the City Friends Club. “By partnering with local coffee shops, we’re not only cutting down on waste but also supporting small businesses in Limassol. And remember, a reusable cup needs to be used about 100 times to offset the emissions from its production – so the more you use it, the better for the planet!”
The City Friends Club invites all Limassol residents to join the Coffee Friends Club. Bring your reusable cup, support your favorite local coffee shops, and be part of a movement for a cleaner, greener Cyprus.
The list of participating coffee shops is growing every month. So far, the Coffee Friends Club includes: NOMAD, The Shopkeeper & Co, Mokador, WAGMI, Stories, Grinder Caffè, Il Parco Grab & Go, Astry, Cafe Toucan, Little Sins, Toy Confectionery by PUNIN, Black Coine, and BLEU Café. And the initiative is expanding – soon, it will launch in Larnaca and Paphos.
A Global Movement with Local Impact
Similar initiatives worldwide have already proven successful. In the UK and Australia, major coffee chains offering discounts for reusable cups have reported significant waste reductions.
In Sweden, some coffee shops have gone a step further – eliminating single-use cups altogether in favor of deposit-return systems for reusable alternatives. These examples show that small, community-driven efforts can lead to large-scale change.
With the Coffee Friends Club, Cyprus has a chance to rethink its coffee culture – one cup at a time.
To know more about the City Friends Club & the Coffee Friends Club visit cityfriends.club or follow the project on Instagram.
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