Over the past few weeks as Autumn has been rolling in I’ve noticed an uptick in people walking through town with takeaway hot drinks. This season always makes me crave a chai latte, and I know that it is the season of pumpkin spiced everything.

What I was shocked at though was how many of these warm takeaway beverages were still in single-use cups. Almost all of them. As a very amateur guesstimate I’d say that 90% of people walking past my window with a drink are still opting for a plastic-lined disposable cup instead of taking their own cups into our coffee shops.

So this got me upset and a little angry, but it also got me thinking. Why did we introduce a bag tax but not a coffee cup tax? Almost everyone has got onboard with the concept of taking your tote bags to the supermarket, so why hasn’t there been as much effort put into the fight against the massive landfill issue that are single-use cups?

It seems that quite often changing to more environmentally friendly habits only happens when there is enough of an obstacle or an inconvenience for people, like being charged 10p for a plastic bag, or our roads and towns being flooded, which is such a shame as we really could be mitigating some of these extremes of weather that we’re facing if only we all could take a proactive stance on fighting climate change.

You can buy reusable coffee cups from practically anywhere now, not just sustainable living shops like mine (My Carbon Coach on Lower Middle Street) but supermarkets, pound shops, even inside the actual coffee shops! So why not give yourself a challenge this autumn to remember your cup like we all remember our shopping bags.