Cllr. John Dolan, Cathaoirleach, Westmeath County Council, recently launched the ‘Choose to Reuse’ eco-friendly initiative with Glasson Tidy Towns and Spollen’s Centra. The aim of the project is to tackle the problem of single use cups and therefore prevent waste, reduce litter and encourage reuse.
Glasson Tidy Towns invited Spollen’s Centra to join with them on this project. In doing this Spollen’s signed up to the Conscious Cup campaign and now stock the reusable cups. The proceeds from all sales go to the Tidy Towns group to support their work and customers who use a reusable cup will receive a 20c discount and a loyalty stamp in the local store.
“I welcome this initiative as I had raised this issue previously at the Athlone Municipal District. This project gives communities the tools to tackle a problem and bring about behavioural change as over 200 million single use cups are disposed of in Ireland annually and we have to tackle this issue,” Cllr. Dolan commented.
Referencing the initiative, Kathleen Farrell of Glasson Tidy Towns stated, “we are very lucky to have Joe Spollen and his team here in Glasson – they always support the work of our group and this joint project is another step on our journey”.
The topic of ‘sustainability’ was broached at the launch by Ruth Maxwell, Environment Department of Westmeath County Council.
“The National Tidy Towns competition includes the category ‘Sustainability – doing more with less’ and this particular project supports this category. While this category has proven difficult to secure marks in over the years with results in the category in Westmeath ranging from 6–19 points out of 50, it is hoped that participation in this initiative will secure points in the results this year,” Ruth noted.
The Conscious Cup campaign aims to decrease the use of single use cups, by encouraging cafes and other outlets to incentivise, through rewarding, customers who bring their own.
