Conscious Cup Campaign

About Conscious Cup

The Conscious Cup Campaign is a non profit environmental initiative founded by a group of concerned individuals who seek to reduce and eventually eliminate single use cups in Ireland.
The campaign's objective is to increase awareness about why "Reuse" is so important, how reducing our waste protects our finite resources and in turn our planet.  We encourage cafes to reward conscious consumers for carrying their own cup through incentives and are delighted to promote and map those Conscious Cafes.

the team

The Committee started in 2016, along the way some invaluable members have departed due to work, family commitments and other meaningful projects. We would like to acknowledge that their input was paramount to the success of our campaign. They include among others Rachel Dempsey, Claudia Tormey, Elaine Butler, Timi Nicholson, Deirdre Gavin, Orla Matthews and Keith Scanlon.

meet the committee

Sorcha Kavanagh

Coordinator of the Conscious Cup Campaign

Sorcha always had a keen interest in the environment, nature and social justice. She spent twenty-five years in Sales & Marketing in business to business across various industries including print and packaging in addition to being involved with the family retail business.  

In terms of advocacy and policy, she is an Advisory Group member in the Irish Governments Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy 2020-2025 and participates in a number of European and International Reuse task forces.  Her goal is developing sustainable circular economy solutions for both industry and consumer. 

As Coordinator, Sorcha works with industry, consumers, communities, corporate and public bodies to support behaviour change and believes collaboration is the key to driving that change.  She is a keen supporter of Conscious Consumerism, the SDG's, was a Climate Ambassador in 2017 and her hobbies include music and walking.

Declan Breen

Is the waste Prevention Officer for the Eastern Midlands Waste Region, so he is all too aware of problems single use items carry and is constantly working in the area of awareness and behavioural change. The EMWR have an initiative called Reuse Month and as part of Reuse Month 2016 Declan created a network of cafes who would offer customers an incentive when they brought their own cup. From carrying out this exercise successfully he knew there was an appetite from both the cafes and the customers so when he heard about the Conscious Cup Campaign he had to get involved.

Mindy O’Brien

Coordinator of VOICE, an environmental charity working extensively on waste issues. Mindy has had a huge interest in waste policy and waste prevention initiatives for over 25 years. She worked on Capitol Hill in Congress in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s on waste legislation. Since moving to Ireland in 1996, she has been involved in VOICE (Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment) in every capacity—from volunteer to board member to Chair and to Coordinator. In her tenure at VOICE, she has championed several public awareness and engagement initiatives, including Feeding the 5,000, Food Rescue, Food Waste Reduction workshops, a home economics food waste module, Zero Waste Cashel, Sick of Plastic Campaign and lastly the Recycling Ambassador Programme.

Mindy got involved in the Conscious Cup Campaign committee in her role as Coordinator of VOICE, but also as an individual interested in reducing her waste foodprint. Since discovering that disposable coffee cups are not recyclable, she has made it her mission to change the behaviour in her office environment (very successfully!) and amongst the public in general.