This year we are launching our “love your mug campaign” under waste minimisation.We have designed and purchased 2,000 travel mugs, which we are giving out free to 5th and 6th year students, and coffee shop goers in Ennis. We have carried out a lot of research into what is been thrown out in the council’s street bins, and littered on the ground, and found a high percentage of discarded litter are disposable coffee and tea cups. We are challenging the students and people of Ennis to love a mug and reuse it, and to try and halt the use of disposable mugs. Our mugs have being trailed in shops in Ennis and they will fit into all coffee machines and retailers we have dealt with have no issues with people presenting with the mugs.

We also visited secondary schools to see if they would use the mug and they picked the style and shape of the mug. This was essential as they will be the people using the mugs, and we are hoping by using 5th and 6th year to begin with that if they use them and they accept them, peer pressure from them will lead to it being acceptable for the lower age groups.

We also when visiting secondary schools sowed the idea that if they were using their own mugs, the shop would be saving money on the disposable type, and would they be prepared to barter with the shops, as a lid and disposable cup can cost up to eight cents to buy. The reason behind this was to show that reducing waste, cutting down on climate change has advantages, directly to themselves in the form of monetary savings and that our love you mug campaign is worth participating in.