On the Malahide Village Green, Saturday 17th May the Malahide Reusable Cup Project will be launched by the Fingal Mayor – Brian McDonagh. The project aims to remove the disposable cup completely from Malahide by introducing a voluntary ban. The project is being driven by Fingal County Council working with VYTAL, VOICE Ireland, Malahide Lions Club, Malahide Tidy Towns and St. Sylvesters parish committee.
But why? What makes the disposable cup the focus of such a coordinated attack?
Well, the Quantity of waste is one good reason. In 2018 a Dail report declared that over 20,000 cups were being disposed of in Ireland every hour!
Secondly, the Carbon Footprint of a disposable cup is quite substantial. The raw materials (paper and plastic) go through several phases of processing and transport before the cup spends 15 minutes or so in use, then it begins its end-journey to landfill or incineration.
These are good reasons, but there are other reasons emerging from studies across the world.
When plastic breaks down tiny bits of plastic break off. These are called microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs), and they are poisoning the world at an alarming rate. The effects of these particles on the human body is now the subject of studies around the globe. In Turkey in 2024 scientists looked specifically at disposable cups. They showed that the intake of MNPs of an individual who consumed 2 cups per week could be up to 18,720–73,840 particles every year.
But are MNPs harmful?
A study published in July 2024 from Wenzhou University in China reported the particles increasing cell death. MNPs cause inflammation and they predicted effects on the Heart, Bowel, Immune and Stress responses. More research into the long-term effects has started.
The website of the National Library of Medicine in the USA outlines the effects of MNPs on human cells.
The Malahide Reusable Cup Project aims to remove disposable cups by November this year but they will need the support of everyone in Malahide to succeed. Land and sea are already riddled with MNPs and it’s impossible to avoid them, but it might help if we stop pouring them down our throats!
For more information on this and other projects check our Tidy Towns Malahide Facebook page
