Irish Rail has issued a ban on reusable cups (apart from their own)

This is a headline that was published by the Irish Times, ‘Irish Rail ban on reusable cups angers passengers’ and it is an accurate one.

The incentive for us as consumers to have a reusable cup is both to avail of the money-saving aspect and to save on throwing cups into the environment (which as we know is already in a crisis). Unfortunately when Irish Rail have things like“10 percent discount on all hot drinks when using an Enterprise Keep Cup” this leaves a bitter taste in our mouths as we already have our cups – but to avail of a discount, we must now buy theirs.

From the article:

‘To avail of a hot drink in a reusable cup, passengers have to buy a branded Enterprise Keep Cup, and all other cups – regardless of size – it seems, are blacklisted.’

Unfortunately, this feels just like an excuse to make money on their own ‘Enterprise Keep Cups’, not a concern for safety of their staff (which they say is a factor) nor for the environment. It seems bizarre to say that safety is a concern, and yet are selling their own Keep Cups and won't accept others.

You can listen back to the interview with Irish Rail on the Sean O'Rourke show here. I contacted CCSL, the catering company for the Enterprise service and they told me:

'We currently offer a reusable Enterprise branded keep cup with your first tea or coffee at the very reasonable price of £2.50/€3.00. If you bring your Enterprise keep cup with you on any journeys afterwards, you can also avail of a 10% discount on tea or coffee purchased on board as well.'

I asked whether the cups were affiliated with the popular Keep Cup brand and they clarified for me:

'‘Keep cup’ is more the terminology for a reusable cup that is used here, so apologies for the confusion. Our cups are branded with our Enterprise train logo and come in a bright red colour which marries to our train logos and are made of recycled plastic, making them instantly identifiable for our crew. This way my team know that the cup is safe for them to use. The cup itself holds 12oz.'

By open admission on Twitter Irish Rail say that their cups though made from recycled materials, cannot be currently recycled in Ireland. If this is the case, an alternative would be to consider looking at compostable cups. They have also said: ‘we are ready for when recycling becomes available’ – but until there, where are their cups going? Is there a storage facility they have of used cups?

A concern from Irish Rail was: 'The reasons that we cannot permit keep cups is because all sizes do not fit under the spout and also closing mechanisms can vary', setting aside that they're selling their own Keep Cups anyway, a suggestion from the public would be to get the consumer to close the cup themselves.

There are those who suggest that 'movement of the train' and stability may be an issue however, reusable cups are accepted on airlines. From Air New Zealand: “It’s great to see more and more customers are bringing their reusable drink bottles and keep cups on board, and we encourage people to do this – our cabin crew team is happy to fill these.” Qantas is another airline that is happy to fill the passenger’s own cup.

Not only that, but it can be done. In 2018, South Western Railway in the UK did a u-turn and agreed to allow customers to use their own reusable cups. The company said:

'We have been discussing the use of customers’ cups with our catering contractor, Rail Gourmet, for some time. We have now agreed that customers’ own cups can be used onboard our services for hot drinks. This will be implemented onboard as soon as possible. This reflects our ongoing commitment to manage our environmental impact.'

The point is that we should be allowed to use the cups we have and not have to fork out more money when the cost of travelling is expensive enough as it is.

I would urge Irish Rail to reconsider their ban to allow passengers to use their own cups and to have a serious discussion with members of the public on how they can make the experience as pleasant and as safe as possible.