Re-useable coffee cups and food hygiene, am I the only one to be worried?

One's homemade germs are always the best aren't they?
Well, when my immune system was knocked out I avoided going out but got sepsis anyway.

Paranoid nanamacGeek ? You?
Never!!
I am amazed you ever eat or drink outside your own home, given the convoluted scenario you envisage.
Paw was on immunosuppressants for over 20 years and never went down with anything comparable to what you describe.
I would respectfully point out that it is not compulsory to pay inflated coffee bar prices but if you are happy with paying about 3 quid for a cuppa you won’t mind the extra 25p will you.

a poor solution to the problem of not being able to currently recycle disposable coffee cups.
I will agree with that. They need to re-think the whole disposable cup business.

I think we need to rethink the whole disposable business altogether - not landfill, not even recycling, but NOT USING.

Why do people have to wander around with a coffee? Either drink it there or wait until you get to the office and make one.
That's what we used to do.

At least we couldn't make one where I worked - we had to wait until coffee break - so we did!

I can’t remember the last time I was given a disposable cup in a coffee shop - whether a big chain or an individual private shop! All have given me a sparkling clean china cup. I suppose on a railway station or on a train there could be reason for a disposable cup - but where else are you all going to be given these disposable cups?

Take away coffees and teas and other hot drinks from any of the coffee chains including Virgin trains, Waitrose supermarkets etc are served in disposable cups Welshwife.

No wonder - if I am in need of a coffee I factor in a sit down to drink it too! I try to never eat or drink in the street - just a thing from school days where it was something you were not supposed to do when wearing uniform!

Hard to do the bone china cup and saucer on the train !

Don’t know about that - British Rail had some great restaurant cars on some trains service wonderful meals - coffee in a china cup would have been child’s play - but would involve finding your way to the buffet car!!

Are we talking about the same century?

The answer is straws. Buy packs of wide straws and take a few with you (and your cup) Your lips need never touch the cup. I have done this for years. They have to be wide straws otherwise the drink is too hot for ages. You may get a few funny looks, but what’s that compared to peacevof mind?

Plastic straws also feature heavily in the appalling debris in the oceans destroying marine wildlife.
Remember cardboard straws?
Plastic and disposability are twin threats which we are either going to have to manage more successfully or live without.

www.independent.co.uk/environment/cornwall-plastic-straws-ban-ocean-environment-pollution-a8050031.html

Interesting reading

Jalima you said! Why do people just have to wander about clutching cups of coffee? Have one at home and /or when you reach your destination. No need to consume hot drinks on buses or walking along the street. However did we manage?!

it - missing word!

I read a letter in The Times yesterday, where a lady said her husband went to a well known eatery.

He presented his own Mug, where the Barista made his coffee in a disposable cup, poured it into her husbands own Mug, and threw away the disposable one??

They use china cups here (or pottery.) They're tiny, for an expresso. When you've finished the man who runs the coffee bar washes them up in a sink then dries with a tea towel.
I don't think that would suit some people, but the coffee is good - 1.20€.

I take my own Themos with me my tea/coffee my cups I would not pay the price that these shops want.

It's been pointed out to me that many of us are retired and dont understand the lifestyle of the young, who these days leave home early without breakfast and grab a coffee on the way to work, to drink on the train or in the office.

I started this thread because I believe that the days of non recyclable disposable cups are numbered, and a good thing too for our planet! I also wanted to point out that one of the apparent choices for remedial action, that of expecting coffee bar customers to bring their own cups to 'drink out' carries its own risks i.e. increased contamination in a food service area. I have actually not spelled out the possible health outcomes, apart from mentioning cold sores and indeed, in the scheme of things the risks to public health are low. However, I wanted to convince some of you that hygiene standards in food premises should be revisited if 'bring-your-own-cup’ becomes the norm. I would hope there would be some adjustments made to training in the same way that staff need to be made aware when any foods containing allergens are added to the menu. I was hoping some would agree with this (and some do, so thank you).

It's been an interesting experience, this was the first thread I've started and I have learned a lot about how I need to express myself on GN.

I was young once and had to rush out to work too pollyperkins! Somehow I managed without having to suck on a cup of coffee at all times!

Some of us managed to get to work without the prop of Starbucks/Costa/Nero etc on the way.
I couldn't have afforded it anyway.

Or the ones who constantly clutch a bottle of water "ooh look at me, I'm so healthy"