Does the environmental impact play a role in shaping

people’s decisions & habits when ordering take away hot

beverages?
Introduction

As the national love for coffee grows, so does the consumption of take away cups, and with
this comes choices! People make choices when ordering take away drinks – they can bring
their own reusable mug, they can use the take-away cup provided, and finally they can choose
whether to use a plastic lid or not. These choices have significant consequences for the planet
as the use and disposal of the cups contribute to climate change and pollution. Therefore, the
decisions we make when ordering take away hot beverages in turn affect every single human
on earth as we are all directly affected by the environmental state of the globe. This dynamic
between disposable cup users, the environment and the population as a whole brings rise to
disproportionate consequences relative to utilization - the vast majority of people are bearing
the consequence for an action that they are not taking part in. This ethnographic essay aims
to explore whether people are aware of the environmental impact of using take away cups and
if so, whether these concerns shape their decisions when using disposable or reusable take
away cups.

Literature Review

Approximately 16 billion paper cups are used and disposed of every single year (Huskee,
2021). Huskee (2021) reports that the production of these cups requires 6.5 million trees to
be cut down and 15 billion litres of water is wasted during the process. Additionally, enough
energy to power 54 thousand homes for a year also goes to waste. Some of these paper cups
are advertised as recyclable, however they are poly coated to prevent the liquid from leaking
which makes recycling them challenging. Therefore, the phrase ‘paper cup’ is innocuous but
deceiving, as majority of them land up in landfills. The plastic lid that is used in conjunction to
the poly coated paper cup poses an even larger threat to the environment. These plastic lids
are one of the many single use plastics that are becoming an integral part of our lives. 79% of
all plastic waste that has ever been produced eventually lands up in dumps, landfills or littered
in the environment. Only 12% has been burnt and only 9% has been recycled (Euoropa, 2019).
Recycling of plastics is far from perfect and has not yet accomplished anything close to a
sustainable flow globally (Weldon, 2019). Plastic pollution has introduced a crisis that
threatens not only human health, but the health of all the surrounding ecosystems which
humans depend on to live (Weldon, 2019).
Method

The research method involved the study and observation of human’s social behaviour when
buying take away hot drinks, and their decision between using a take-away or reusable cup.
To complete this research, observations were conducted at coffee shops on the UCT campus.
Therefore, the study was limited to the social behaviour and decisions of students as they are
the most frequent customers in this space. Two shops were chosen in particular – Food &
Connect and Jeans Kitchen and the observations were completed on 5 different days,
observing for 2 hours at a time. Careful focus was taken to qualitatively observe how many
people bring reusable coffee mugs, and if a take-away cup is used, the decision of the
customer to use a hard plastic lid or not was noted. Additionally, the behaviour of the
customers after they purchased their coffee was observed to determine whether it influenced
their decision on taking a lid or not. The observations for this research task were limited to ten
hours. Additionally, the observations made are limited by the fact that no relationship between
the observer and subjects was made, as the observations were made on a large group of
people. This limitation was reduced slightly through the performance of interviews on both the
staff working at the coffee shop, as well as selected customers. However, the time constrained
of the research limited the number of interviews that could be performed, and thus the bridge
between the customers and observer was not completely eradicated, but rather reduced
slightly by engaging with a proportion of the customers, with their consent. The community of
observation was chosen as they aligned with the geopolitical placement of the observer – both
students at UCT. Additionally, students are younger and thus hopefully are more in the future
as well as are educated about the environmental threats of the future. Although, it must also
be acknowledged that there will be confounders if one were to extend the research to different
socioeconomic geographies and different age cohorts as these will introduce different factors
that will influence people’s decisions and environmental consciousness. For example,
geopolitically disadvantaged areas may not be as educated on environmental threats which
will skew the results. However, this research is beyond the scope of this investigation as the
research is limited to coffee shops on UCT campus, where students are the customers.

Results and analysis

The behaviour of society when purchasing take away coffee or alternative hot drinks presented
some strong trends in some aspects, however, this was coupled to many outliers and some
unpredictable behaviour. UCT being a diverse space, the results are based on a diverse group
of people, however, for the topic at hand, there was no disparity in habits and behaviour
between different genders or race. In other words, it was recorded that the race and gender
of the customer did not influence their decisions when ordering take away hot beverages. A
large proportion of the students at UCT purchase take away coffee as the coffee shops were
always very busy. Only a very small percentage of customers (estimated at less than 5%)
make use of reusable coffee mugs. Majority of customers use the take-away paper cups that
are available to them by the coffee shop despite some owning reusable cups. In an interview,
it was stated that “I purchased a reusable mug but have only used it once this year as it is
inconvenient to carry around with you”, another stated that “she uses her mug two to three
times a month as she often forgets it” and another mentioned that “she bought a reusable mug
but it often spilt and then broke shortly afterwards”.

Some coffee shops offer incentives in the form of discounts for people to bring and use
reusable coffee cups. Food and Connect offer a R1 discount for reusable cup users. Despite
this, it was evident that very few students were making use of reusable cups and therefore,
this incentive is ineffective. A customer stated during an interview that they “do not think it is
a great enough incentive” and highlighted that other coffee shops, such as Vida offer more,
giving R2 off for each reusable cup used. A study that examined whether the use of reusable
cups can be increased through implementable measures found that a charge on disposable
cups increased the use of reusable cups while a discount on reusable cups had no effect
(Poortinga and Whitaker, 2018). This is an interesting analysis on the behaviour of humans
as they are willing to change their habits to escape an additional cost, but are not willing to
change their habits to be granted a discount. They feel that paying what is deemed to be
“normal” is acceptable and anything below that comes with a disclaimer, is not worth it.
Furthermore, one has to question why there needs to be additional charges or discounts to
force people to change the habits for the greater good of the planet? Is climate change and
waste production not a sufficient driver for small adjustments to our daily lives?

The one customer who did bring a reusable mug requested for the mug to be cleaned by the
staff at the coffee shop. This suggested further reasons for not electing to use a reusable mug
as cleaning it is a hassle. It also raised the question of the effect that reusable mugs have on
the environment – although they have a long lifeline, their regular usage requires resources
that also have consequences on the environment. The CIRAIG study compared the effects of
having a single use take away coffee cup every day for a year to using a reusable ceramic
cup every day for a year (Roy, 2022). Roy’s (2022) results showed that the single use cup
caused a lot more greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change as they have
toxic emissions, produce smog and cause ozone depletion during their production and
disposal. However, it became apparent from the study that reusable mugs are not guilt free
when it comes to emissions and negative effects on ecosystems. Reusable mugs must be
washed regularly which requires hot water and soap. These factors have negative
consequences in term of ecotoxicological emissions, acidification, eutrophication, and land
occupation. The CIRAIG study reports that “it would take between 20 and 100 uses for a
reusable cup to make up for the greenhouse gas emissions of a single-use cup”. Therefore,
only with frequent use is the reusable cup a better for the environment than single use cups.
This was a very unexpected and shocking statistic. Naturally, one would assume that using a
reusable mug over a take-away mug would be beneficial for the environment even if it is only
very seldom as you are preventing the use and disposal of a single use plastic. However, this
is evidently not the case. The very seldom usage of reusable mugs by people who own them
suggest that many people are oblivious to this statistic. It would be useful for manufacturers
of reusable mugs to advertise this point to raise awareness amongst their customers otherwise
their product and market becomes rather contradictory. Using a single use take away cup is
evidently a lot more convenient, and thus a one can assume that the reason people choose
to buy and use reusable mugs is for the environmental benefit. Therefore, the environment is
shaping their decisions but to what extent is this decision actually beneficial to the environment
if they are unaware of the implications of the reusable mug? For people who do not frequently
drink coffee, it may be more beneficial for the environment for them to use single use paper
cups but omit the usage of the pure plastic lid.

It was noted that the coffee shops never applied the plastic lids on themselves, but they rather
supplied the plastic lids and allowed the customer to make the decision of whether they wanted
to use one. Every customer that was ordering a coffee and then walking away from the shop
took a plastic lid. In the observation spaces, there were desks and work spaces in and around
the coffee shop. Of the small percentage of people who elected not to take a plastic lid, they
all sat down at a nearby table and worked. This suggested that for some, lids are desirable to
prevent the liquid from spilling when traveling. This idea was raised by a customer who
mentioned that they “only take a lid when driving and actually prefer the feeling of drinking a
coffee without the lid”. However, this was not always the case. There was evidence of people
using a lid when buying the coffee, and then sitting down nearby, removing the lid to let the
coffee cool presumably, and drinking the coffee with the lid removed. This was confirmed in
interviews when someone stated that they “never take a lid as the coffee is then too hot to
drink and [they] need it to cool down”. This raised the motion that the lid is used to maintain
the heat of the beverage and gave rise to the observation that when the weather is warmer,
less people opt to take the plastic lid than when the weather is colder. It was incredibly
frustrating to watch customers take lids and then sit down to drink their coffee and even more
frustrating when people took a lid and then proceeding to remove it while they sat and drank
their coffee. This highlighted that they were either oblivious to the consequences that plastic
has on the environment or that these consequences did not shape their decisions when
ordering take away beverages. Of the latter, it is very unlikely that the customers were
unaware of the impact that plastic has on the environment, given their level of tertiary
education as UCT scholars and the high publicity and popularity that dilemma of plastic usage
and disposal has. This was confirmed in interviews as all customers and staff stated that they
are aware of the effect of take-away cups on the environment.

The people who do not consider the environmental impact of the plastic lids when ordering
take away coffee are making large and arguably unnecessary contributions to the growing
plastic waste disposal dilemma. Furthermore, they are not the only people to pay the price of
their actions, as the consequence of plastic on the environment is shared amongst all humans,
whether they make large contributions to the usage of plastics or not. In fact, sometimes the
people who use the least plastics, making the least contribution to the pollution bear the
heaviest consequences. This is evident when plastic eventually ends up blocking sewers,
creating an ideal place for pests such a mosquitos to breed (Euoropa, 2019). This results in
the increase of vector-borne diseases such as malaria. The impoverished people who live in
close proximity to sewers suffer from these diseases which are a direct result of the plastic
pollution, however they are not the people who are making the biggest contribution to the
pollution. An impoverished person is certainly not buying take away coffees with plastic lids
regularly, if ever. Society is feeding our planet plastic minute by minute, forming a plasticscene
within the Anthropocene. Perhaps this answers the question that was posed earlier – asking
why incentives are needed to change people’s polluting habits: it may be because they are
not always the ones who bear the consequences of their actions and therefore, do not feel the
need to make a change. A similar dynamic is seen when comparing an impoverished country
where “rivers are clogged with plastic waste so thick that one can almost walk across them”
to a first world country such as America, where the one does not have to concern themselves
with the happens after the plastic leave their homes via the well managed trash pick up
companies (Weldon, 2019). Many people are making decisions at other people’s expense and
failing to let it affect their habits or to even acknowledge their impact, or the power that they
possess to make a change for the better. Humans are active and reflexive agents to a large
extent of a great scale system change however, to do so, we need to foster active engagement
with transformations in habit that promote sustainability (Leichenko and O’Brien, 2020).
Accepted norms, practices, rules, and policies must be questioned and adapted for the greater
good of the environment.
Conclusions

It can be concluded that majority of people do not consider the environmental impact of the
choices that they make when ordering take away beverages. Consequently, they are
increasing their footprint on the planet and their actions directly contribute to pollution and
climate change on the planet – a burden that is then faced by every human on the planet. It is
impossible to eradicate your contribution to climate change and pollution entirely, however it
is possible to minimize it in certain areas of life, such as regularly choosing single use plastics
over other alternatives. The obvious solution to the reducing the impact of take away cups on
the environment is for regular take away beverage consumers to utilize reusable cups every
time that they buy a take-away. It is important to highlight that frequent use of the reusable
cup is required to make a counteractive effect on the environment. However, it was evident
that less than 5% of the observed community did so and therefore, the decision between using
a reusable and disposable cup was not influenced by its environmental impact. The analysis
of the use of disposable cups showed slightly more positive results as the use and void of the
plastic lids suggested that a proportion of the community, although small, considered the
environmental impact of using the plastic lid. Thus, they only used it when necessary: when
they were transporting the drink or they wanted to keep it warm. It was assumed that the
community was aware of the consequences of single use plastics due to their level of tertiary
education, and their actions suggested that they were unattached to their negative contribution
to the environmental crisis that we face today. Reasons for this kind of behaviour include the
fact that the consequences for their actions (climate change and world pollutions) is shared
amongst every human. In fact, people who contribute less may experience the consequences
to a larger extent, and therefore the responsibility for negatively affecting the environment
becomes skewed. This results in people who make the largest contributions, yet face the
smallest consequences, dismissing and failing to acknowledge their personal responsibility
which reflects in their decisions and habits.
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Management and Research, 23(3), 175–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X05054325

Euoropa, B. (2019). Feeding the Plastic planet minute by minute: Anthropocene the plasticscene.
https://bellona.org/news/industrial-pollution/2019-01-feeding-the-plastic-planet-minute-by-
minute-anthropocene-the-plasticscene

Roy, P.-O. (2022). Reusable or Disposable: Which coffee cup has a smaller footprint?
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2017/07/reusable-or-disposable-which-coffee-cup-has-a-
smaller-footprint/

Leichenko, R., & O’Brien, K. (2020). Teaching climate change in the Anthropocene: An integrative
approach. Anthropocene, 30.

Perfecto, I., Jiménez-Soto, M. E., & Vandermeer, J. (2019). Coffee landscapes shaping the anthropocene:
Forced simplification on a complex agroecological landscape. Current Anthropology, 60(S20), S236–
S250. https://doi.org/10.1086/703413

Poortinga, W., & Whitaker, L. (2018). Promoting the use of reusable coffee cups through environmental
messaging, the provision of alternatives and financial incentives. Sustainability (Switzerland), 10(3).
https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030873

Porta, R. (2021). Anthropocene, the plastic age and future perspectives. FEBS Open Bio, 11(4), 948.
https://doi.org/10.1002/2211-5463.13122

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https://inhabitingtheanthropocene.com/2019/05/08/plastic-waste-part-1/
Appendix:

Interview Questions:

Questions asked to staff working at the coffee shops:

• Do you know how many coffees or hot drinks, you serve per day on average?
• What is the most common age of the customers? In other words, do more students or
staff buy hot drinks?
• How many customers bring reusable coffee mugs?
• How many customers take a plastic lid?
• Do you believe that you should offer an incentive to the customers to bring reusable
mugs? If yes, do you believe that it is sufficient
• Do you know the effect of the take-away cups on the environment?

Questions asked to customers:

• How often do you buy take away coffee?

• How often do you make coffee at home, if ever?
• What is your reason to get take away coffee over making at home?
• Have you ever purchased a reusable coffee mug? If yes, how often do you use it? If no,
is there a reason?
• Do you always take a plastic lid for your take away coffee? How do you dispose of your
take away coffee cups?
• Are you aware that many coffee shops offer discounts?
• Do you believe that you should offer an incentive to the customers to bring reusable
mugs? If yes, do you think that the incentive is big enough?
• Why do you use/not use a reusable coffee cup?
• Do you know the effect of the take away mugs on the environment?
Field Notes:

Date: 03/10/2022
Place: Food & Connect, UCT

Time: 10-12

Observations: The coffee shop was most busy from the 45 th minute to the hour as this is the
break when students are free. A high volume of students bought coffees, and some lecturers
too, however the majority of customers were students. There was no clear trend of which
gender or race purchased drinks most frequently. All races, genders and classes of people
visited the shop and made purchases. 70% of people used the plastic lid on their take away
coffee. There was one girl who took a plastic lid, sat down at the nearest table, and then took
the plastic off her mug to drink her coffee. People who took plastic lids generally got up and
walked away with their coffee however, there was a large amount of people who took lids and
then sat down at the nearest table to drink their coffee. I only saw one person who didn’t take
a plastic lid and walked away with the hot drink, everyone else who didn’t take a lid sat down.
The barrister staff never put the lid on themselves, it was always up to the customer. When
people ordered in groups, they often made different decisions: some would have a reusable
mug whereas other’s wouldn’t. This is my first time ever doing participant observation. I felt
unsure of what to take note of and how closely to observe. I didn’t want to stand out as
observing however this was not a hard thing to avoid as the environment was very welcoming
and relaxed. Smelt the smell of coffee. I bumped into many people I know – sat and chatted
and performed interviews.

Number of people with reusable cups: 2

Personal reflection: I felt frustrated by the people who took lids and sat down at the tables to
drink their coffees as you can get away with not taking a lid when sitting. The weather was
slightly cold so perhaps the reason to keep the lid on despite sitting down is keep the coffee
warm – will confirm this in interviews. Was surprised at how little people used reusable mugs.
Some people brought a lot more with their coffee (other food and snacks), which suggested a
degree of financial freedom. For these people, money may not be the obstacle between
purchasing a reusable mug, so what is the reason for not? This is my first time ever doing
participant observation. I felt unsure of what to take note of and how closely to observe. I didn’t
want to stand out as observing however this was not a hard thing to avoid as the environment
was very welcoming and relaxed .
 Date: 4/10/2022
Place: Food & Connect, UCT
Time: 10-12

Observations: The coffee shop and waiting area was not that full today. When I arrived, there
was only one person sitting down with a lid on their takeaway coffee. After some time, a group
of boys and girls arrived with coffees from a different coffee shop. They sat down at the tables
and they all had lids on their coffees. The staff working were the same staff that were there
at the previous observation period. I sat in the middle of the area, at a small table myself. It
was difficult to observe the working space with all the tables as a whole from this position and
therefore focused on the activity inside the shop. The shop is a food and drink shop. However,
I would say that 80% of the people buy a drink only or a drink and food and only 20% buy food
only. The atmosphere was lively and the staff were chatty and friendly. It was more common
for customers to walk in in a group of friends than walk in by themselves, although this did
also occur.

The weather was much warmer today.

A man ordered a coffee from food and connect, took a lid, and then sat down at the tables. He
began eating his food, and while eating took the lid off his coffee – I presume to let it cool
down. After 40 minutes, he was still sitting down and had drank his coffee with the lid off.

Someone ordered a coffee and then asked for a second cup as their drink was too hot to hold.

I didn’t see anyone with a reusable cup today.

Personal Reflections: It became apparent that getting a lid when needing to transport the
drink was a trend. It was the first time that I noticed the different coffee cups at the place of
observation. Perhaps this is a common place for people to meet and work or eat. However, I
am questioning why one must buy a coffee from a different shop, take a lid to walk and then
sit right by a coffee shop where they could have got a cup with no lid. It suggests that people
are ignorant of the effect of the lids on the environment or are not phased by the impact. I
interviewed customers and found out that they are aware of the consequences on the
environment – thus it their negligence that dictates their decisions.

I felt so so infuriated watching the person ask for a second cup because it was too hot to drink.
This burst of emotion shocked me slightly.
 Date: 6/10/2022

Place: Food & Connect, UCT

Time: 10-12

Observations: The weather was colder today. When I first sat down for observation, I counted
2 people sitting down and working with a coffee with a lid on. There was 5 people who were
working with a coffee with no lid. There were 2 people with coffee from another shop sitting
with their coffees. I wondered over to them and explained my research. After asking them a
few questions in an interview, I gathered that their coffees were from a shop called Jeans and
they bought them there because it is cheaper. As expected, majority of people who ordered a
coffee took a plastic lid. There was 1 person who brought a reusable mug. When she ordered
her coffee and gave the reusable mug – she asked for it to be cleaned. The coffee shop was
quieter than usual today and therefore, I took the opportunity to conduct interviews. When
interviewing, I sat across from the customer at a table. It was a very casual conversation. I
wanted the customers to feel as comfortable as possible. Some questions opened
discussions, and the customers brought up some interesting points. I felt excited at the useful
information and the prospect of further research. Their answers confirmed and aligned with
many of the trends that I had already picked up during observation.

Personal Reflections: It was interesting to see the interaction of the person with the reusable
mug asking for it to be cleaned. This raised questions of the hassle of using a reusable mug
– having to constantly wash it? And what is the effect of the washing on the environment? I
noted that I need to research a comparison between a reusable mug and disposable mug. I
also planned that my next observations will be at Jeans Kitchen to see if there is any
discrepancies between the two places.

I felt disheartened during the interviews when customers stated that they owned reusable
mugs but never used them. And then continued to confidently state that they are aware of the
environmental impact of using disposable cups as this suggested their negligence in taking
responsibility for the negative consequences of their actions on the environment.
 Date: 10/10/2022

Place: Jeans Kitchen, UCT

Time: 9-11

Observations: It was a very warm day. This was the first time observing at Jeans kitchen. It
was not as busy as Food and Connect. The lids were displayed on the counter where one
pays for their coffee – making it very clear that it is a choice whether to take a lid or not. This
location sold a large variety of food as well as hot drinks. The smell of warm food was very
strong and overwhelming.

A man walked into jeans with a coffee with a lid from food and connect.

I only noticed 2 people not take lids when ordering the coffee, otherwise everyone took lids.

Someone bought a coffee and had brought a glass mug to take his coffee in.

Personal Reflections: I want to interview the staff to see if there is any discrepancy between
the two coffee shops.

Perhaps jeans is a preferred place of work and social location and therefore, people bring
takeaway food and drinks here. The atmosphere and table set up is much nicer than food and
connect.

This is the first time I have ever seen someone use a glass mug for a take away coffee. This
brought rise to questions such as how common it is for people to use a glass instead of a take
away cups. I assume not many as I have never seen it before. Glass could be a better material
of choice for a takeaway mug – however it is more fragile which may prevent people from
using it.

Seeing the man walk into jeans with a food and connect coffee made it clear that there is
fluidity of movement between different coffee shops. It seems that people choose their place
of purchase based on preference (in either taste or price) and then relocate to a place of
choice to work or socialize. If these people were aware of the extent of their impact on the
environment, would they make the same decisions?
 Date: 13/10/2020

Place: Jeans Kitchen, UCT

Time: 9-11

Observations: It as a beautiful day. They had light music playing and it was a vibey
atmosphere. It was very busy and there was constantly a line of people. I ordered myself a
coffee and never took a lid as I was sitting down with my coffee. I observed people electing to
take a lid and electing not to take a lid. As expected according to the previous trend, more
people elected to take a lid.

The most interesting observation was a group of friends who collectively ordered a coffee. I
witnessed the one person taking a lid however when she noticed that her friend opted to not
take a lid, she changed her mind and put the lid back. The group sat down and drank their
coffees.

A person sitting at a table across from me bought a coffee with a lid and was sitting and
working. During their interactions, they spilt their coffee and some of it went on their laptop.
They quickly ran and got serviettes and frantically tapped their laptop and the desk down.

I never saw anyone with a reusable cup today.

Personal reflections: It was very interesting to see the person who returned her lid after
seeing her friends not taking. It raised the question of what was her reasoning to put the lid
back? Did she feel pressured to by her friends? Or was it her own personal guilt?

It was interesting to see the person who spilt the coffee as well. I thought about the
consequence of spilling the coffee if they did not have a lid on. It would have been a much
larger hazard and probably would have resulted in damage to their laptop.