Derry beats Belfast on tea and coffee sustainability

A study by The Kent and Sussex Tea and Coffee Company looked at how environmentally friendly drinkers are.

The company found that Derry beat Belfast in the seven-factor study with Derry coming 21st in the whole of the United Kingdom, and Belfast coming 71st.

A spokesperson for the company said: “The Northern Irish were the most likely to claim they shopped for their tea and coffee sustainably, and yet overall, the top ranking Northern Irish town Derry landed in 21st position. The East Midlands and Scotland were the next likely regions to say they prioritised sustainability when shopping, and yet neither region managed to place any city in the top ten.”

This is how Belfast and Derry ranked for every factor: 1. Recycling (Derry 78th, Belfast 17th in the UK)

2. Coffee beans (Derry 46th , Belfast 62nd in the UK)

3. Loose leaf tea (Derry 36th, Belfast 96th in the UK)

4. Reusable coffee cups (Derry 44th, Belfast 11th in the UK)

5. Plastic free tea bags (Derry 5th, Belfast 93rd in the UK)

6. Zero waste/ sustainable shops (Derry 13th, Belfast 101st in the UK)

The survey cross referenced the results with how much respondents claimed to care about their caffeine carbon footprint in a poll conducted in February 2021.

In the UK, people from the north of Ireland were the most likely to cite ‘sustainability’ as a priority.

Research has found that just one tea-bag can release up to 11.6 billion microplastics, and that around 56 billion coffee pods are dumped every year. Switching to refillable products - like coffee beans or loose leaf tea - is one way to minimise unnecessary waste.