Ten coffee shops in Galway are no longer serving drinks in disposable cups in an effort to reduce waste.
As part of an initiative launched this morning by Galway City Council, the participating cafes are being supplied with reusable cups.
Costing €1 each, the cups will be borrowed by customers, who can get a refund or swap for another cup when they purchase their next coffee.
The council said the Use Your Mug campaign aims to "dramatically reduce" single use coffee cups across the city. The campaign will be reviewed at the end of a three month trial period.
Each participating coffee shop is being given 1,400 reusable cups to start the effort.
The local authority's Environmental Awareness Officer, Tiarnan McCusker, said that over half a million cups are disposed of every day in Ireland.
He said the circular economy can help address this issue across the country - if there is a will to implement it.
Several businesses will offer discounts of 50 cent to those who bring their own cups with them over the next week.
This is to encourage greater use of reusable mugs, which many people own but only use sporadically.
