Polygiene Backs World Refill Day with Antimicrobial Reusable Coffee Cups
Polygiene® is supporting World Refill Day – taking place on 16 June 2022 – a global campaign to prevent plastic pollution and help people live with less waste.
To provide a solution to this problem, Polygiene has helped develop coffee cups that can be reused more safely, through applying Polygiene BioMasterTM antimicrobial technology.
Globally, we create more than 300 million tons of plastic every year, and half of this is single-use, with less than 2% of packaging reusable. According to a poll conducted last year by City to Sea – which organizes World Refill Day – three in every four people want more access to reuse and refill options.
Through an array of press coverage and social media content, World Refill Day is urging consumers and businesses to reduce their use of single-use packaging and invest in reuse and refill systems.
“We urgently need to shift from our disposable, single-use culture to a more sustainable, circular future, with reuse & refill at the center,” the campaign states.
A key aspect of this change is ensuring that reusable drinking containers are clean and hygienic. Unfortunately, many of our favorite reusable bottles and cups with residual beverages provide the ideal environment for moisture-loving and potentially dangerous micro-organisms to grow. The National Infection Service at Public Health England has said that bacteria can grow in both the container and where liquid builds up around the mouthpiece
Reusable coffee cups are a particular concern. Research by the University of Arizona has found that 90% of hot drinks cups and mugs in the workplace carry dangerous bacteria, with 20% of these having traces of fecal matter. The same study also found that half of the bacteria found on reusable containers had the potential to harm, including gram-positive cocci, which can lead to skin infections, pneumonia, or even blood poisoning.
In an independent test undertaken by Aston University, cups treated with Biomaster were shown to deliver an effective reduction in the residual level of bacteria on the external and internal lid and on the inside of the cup.
The active antibacterial agent is built into the cup during the manufacturing process, so the protection lasts for the useful lifetime of the product. Polygiene BioMaster is proven to inhibit the growth of the most common types of bacteria by more than 99%.
Coffee cups with inbuilt BioMaster protection are available from several outlets, including harfieldtableware.co.uk and pfconcept.com
Lisa Brian from Polygiene comments: “We are immensely proud to be a part of World Refill Day. By helping provide drinking containers such as coffee cups which can be reused more safely, we are happy to be contributing to the urgent shift towards reuse & refill. We wish everyone involved in this campaign a successful day.