Each morning in Cyprus, cafés are packed with coffee lovers holding disposable cups. It’s routine, but these cups come with hidden costs: they fill landfills, litter streets and beaches, and can release microplastics into your drink.
Suddenly, a simple coffee run isn’t so harmless — but now there’s a way to change it.
The High Price of Convenience
Single-use coffee cups are a major contributor to everyday waste. A 2024 IMARC Group report shows Europe used roughly 60 billion disposable cups last year. Most aren’t recycled, ending up as trash instead. Cypriot statistics show that around 10,000 disposable cups end up in the trash every day.
But the problem isn’t only environmental. The plastic linings in many cups can leach tiny particles into beverages, raising concerns about long-term health effects. A study on PubMed found that a single paper cup (100 ml) can leach ~25,000 microplastic particles into hot water within just 15 minutes.
Choosing a reusable cup is a simple but powerful way to protect both the planet and yourself.
Coffee Friends Club: A Small Cup, A Big Change
In response, the Coffee Friends Club — an initiative by the eco charity City Friends Club — has been encouraging coffee lovers to bring their own reusable cups to cafes. Starting in Limassol and now operating in Larnaca and Paphos, the program rewards customers with up to 15% off their drinks. What began as a local experiment has quickly grown into a visible shift: 23 cafés are participating, and over 12,000 drinks were sold in reusable cups in just the first six months of 2025.
So far, the Coffee Friends Club in Limassol includes: NOMAD, The Shopkeeper & Co, Mokador, WAGMI, Stories, Grinder Caffè, Il Parco Grab & Go, Astry, Cafe Toucan, Ray Kitchen & Bar, Toy Confectionery by PUNIN, Black Coine, BLEU Café, The Cookhouse, Natives, and Uluwatu Specialty Coffee.
In Larnaca, the cafés that have joined the project are: The Brewing Hand, Paul’s Coffee Roasters, Lazaris Bakery Bar, while in Paphos, following cafés are participating: Beanhaus Coffee Roasters and La Colazione. Unlike countries that rely on cup deposits or bans, Cyprus takes a community-driven approach: cafés, customers, and citizens working together to shift habits.
Make Your Cup Count
Coffee lovers have a choice. Bring along a reusable cup, enjoy discounts, support local cafés, and reduce exposure to microplastics. Every sip from a reusable cup is a small action with a big impact — helping Cyprus move toward a cleaner, healthier coffee culture.
Learn more about the initiative at https://cityfriends.club or on CFC Instagram.
