Sustainable coffee breaks at the Palais des Nations | The United Nations Office at Geneva

A coffee machine pouring coffee into a cup

Do you enjoy having coffee at the Palais des Nations? Help us protect the environment and bring your own cup instead of using a disposable one! All the machines at the Palais will recognize your cup.

More than half a million disposable cups are used at the Palais every year and then thrown out. Adding the weight of single-use cutlery, takeaway boxes and napkins, this amounts to to eight tons of waste each year that we could avoid by choosing to reuse.

Whether you are working at the Palais, coming for a meeting, or are simply visiting for a few hours, you can take steps to help us reduce waste:

Do you have any questions?

Write to us: greening-unog@un.org

Reducing waste at the Palais

A collage of UN staff having a coffee with their own coffee cups

Tip 1: bring your own bottle

Did you know that tap water in Geneva is 100% drinkable? SIG, our water provider, filters water from Lake Geneva and subsequently performs thousands of analyses annually to ensure a high-water quality, and 94% of Genevans consume tap water on a daily basis. You can fill up from any sink throughout the Palais des Nations, saving not only on plastic and CO₂ emissions but also on some of your pocket money.

Tip 2: use reusable tableware

Taking away food from the cafeteria? Ask for a reBOX at any of the checkouts. For a deposit of 10 CHF, you can take your food away and return the box when you are done eating. If you want to use the box later on outside the Palais, there are plenty of reCIRCLE partners in Geneva where you can return the container.

Tip 3: sort your waste properly

Did you end up with a bit of waste despite all your efforts? Don’t worry, we have introduced many recycling streams at the Palais: glass, aluminium, paper and PET plastic – be aware that, in Switzerland, only PET plastic is currently being collected separately. All other plastics belong in the general mixed waste.

Bring your own cup

Reusable glass containers

Did you know that many glass containers sold at the Palais des Nation can be washed and reused by the supplier? Check below and return reusable containers to the Grab'n'Go (right next to the microwave) or on your tray in the cafeteria.

If a container is not on the list, please empty it before putting it in the glass bin. The UN pays waste removal by weight (and liquids are heavy).