Killarney in Co Kerry is aiming to become the first town in the country to be single use coffee cup free.
More than two dozen independent coffee shops and 21 hotels have signed up to a scheme to stop serving coffee and tea in single use cups by the end of the month.
The promoters of the scheme claim it will remove over one million single use coffee cups from the town each year, reducing waste by 18.5 tonnes.
They are encouraging customers to use their own re-usable cups in the first instance, or to use a reusable cup which they will supply and for which customers will pay a €2 deposit.
The deposit will be refundable at any of the participating coffee shops and hotels in Killarney, or at any one of 350 locations throughout the country where a similar scheme is in operation.
Efforts to improve the appearance of Killarney can be traced back to the mid-1980s, with a project headed up by an architect and supported by the then tourism body, Bord Failte.
In 2007 and 2010, Killarney won the large town award in the Tidy Towns competition and, in 2011 the town was named overall national Tidy Towns winner.
The move to make the town single use coffee cup free is a natural follow-on from that. It follows a number of voluntary clean-ups of the town and the nearby Killarney National Park, which revealed that the cups were one of the most common forms of waste recovered by volunteers.
Killian Treacy, owner of Luna Deli and Wine in Killarney town centre is the spokesperson for the group behind the initiative.
He claims Killarney will be the first town in the country to go single use coffee cup free when coffee shops and hotels stop serving the cups by 31 July.
"We are delighted to be in a position to make Killarney single use coffee cup free.
"This was a really brave decision by our local coffee shops, but it is something that we are really excited by, particularly given we are the first town to introduce this measure.
"We believe other towns will soon follow suit when they see the positive impact this will have on Killarney."
Mr Treacy says customers are already driving the change themselves, by embracing the use of reusable cups.
"We are already seeing a lot of customers bringing their reusable coffee cups into our shops and believe Killarney is ready for this change.
"The decision has been taken for the collective good of the town, by removing 18.5 tonnes of waste per year, while also ensuring that the cost of takeaway coffee remains the same for our customers.
"We have all benefitted from having Killarney National Park on our doorstep. It is a fantastic, free resource that locals access daily, as well as being a major draw for tourism.
"We view this move as an opportunity for us to give something back by removing a significant source of litter from the national park."
Ossian Smyth, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment said it is great to see the town of Killarney taking on the initiative.
"Killarney's economy is tied to its beautiful, natural environment and this scheme will reduce litter, save money on disposable cups for the businesses and save the public from paying the cup levy."
Each of the participating coffee shops and hotels have agreed to sign up to the project for a year.
Customers can find out more about the project in any of the participating coffee shops or hotels, or on their respective social media accounts.
The project has also been supported by local partners, including the Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce, Kerry County Council, 2GoCup, Killarney Credit Union, WanderWild Festival and AIB.
