Each month at the Gate, we set ourselves a monthly Green Gate Challenge. Green Gate is what we call our sustainability policy and we like to embark on monthly challenges.
The challenges are about changing how we think in the long term (and not just for that month), but we’ve found that giving each month a focus helps us keep sustainability and our Green Gate Policy at the forefront of our thinking as an organisation.
This month we decided ditch the disposable coffee cup in favour of re-usable ones.
With Diary of a Madman running in Edinburgh at the Traverse Theatre and various members of the Gate team heading up and down the country over the coming month, we decided to return to a challenge we’d previously done; pledging to use re-usable coffee cups. We first embarked on this challenge last year, but coffee cups were beginning to creep back on desks, and so we took the plunge once again.
This time, however, we decided to take this challenge one step further. We bought reusable coffee cups for the cast of Diary of a Madman and asked them to use them whilst in Edinburgh too. Our Development Manager hosted a trip in Edinburgh for a group of Gate Supporters, and they too had the option to donate to the Gate and we provided them with a reusable coffee cup for their trip.
Why not take on the #GreenGate challenge?
As always, here’s how we found it!
It was a good time for me to return to this challenge because I was beginning to ‘treat’ myself with the odd barista made coffee here and there. This challenge for me is a classic #GreenGate challenge because it just makes perfect sense (for both the environment and for your bank balance). So, what really excited me with this challenge was seeing others embrace it and use the reusable cups that we gave them, from our lovely donors to our Diary of a Madman cast, it made my heart glow green to think that we engaged others to act in a more sustainable way. And that, in turn, they might do the same to someone else.
Chrissy Angus, General Manager
It was great to have this challenge fresh in my mind, as August saw a lot of trips to Edinburgh for the Fringe festival, and a lot of on-the-go tea was needed. Battling both the late nights and the Scottish rain armed with my travel mug, I’m pleased to have invigorated this habit, which is very easy once you’re in the swing of it, and ditch disposable coffee cups.
Daisy Cooper, Producer
I was horrified watching Hugh Fearnley-Whitting stall’s War on Waste before we kicked off this challenge: I had previously been one of the many to put my disposable coffee cup in to the recycling without realising that most cups aren’t recyclable. It was the perfect moment for a #GreenGate challenge to swing in to action. Getting on the train to Edinburgh with shiny new re-usable cup (which I customised with a Gate logo sticker to spread the word!) felt great and I had it handy with me for most of my trip. I’ll confess that I slipped up once or twice, but I’m determined to carry on using my cup whenever I’m out and about so that this just becomes habit. It’s so simple but can potentially make such a big difference.
Jo Royce, Executive Director
I love using my new reusable Edinburgh coffee cup that I used at the Festival. I have not used a disposable one since! Thanks to the Gate for helping with me with my green conscience.
Sandi Ulrich, Supporter