Starting January 1, if you want a cup of coffee at the UG, you’ll need to bring your own mug or pay 1 euro for a reusable coffee cup. The university is removing all disposable cups from the coffee machines.
The measure aligns with the single-use plastic legislation, which prohibits the use of plastic for on-site consumption. ‘But in addition to plastic, we also want to reduce the use of disposable cardboard, such as coffee cups, as much as possible’, says UG spokesperson Elies Wempe-Kouwenhoven.
As of next month, reusable plastic cups will be dispensed from the coffee machines only if the customer explicitly chooses them. However, these cups will also be available for purchase at high-traffic locations within the UG. ‘This is an additional service in case the cups from the machines run out.’
Festivals
‘It’s kind of like how you buy a cup at a festival that you can exchange for a new one’, says the spokesperson.
For now, the most significant difference is that, at a festival, you pay a deposit for your cup, whereas this isn’t the case for those at the UG. ‘You get to keep it. But Beijk does intend to use a deposit system in the future.’
The transition will probably be the easiest for staff. They are advised to bring their own mug from home and keep it in one of the cabinets in their department’s kitchen, which also have dishwashers where the mugs can be cleaned.