The ACT Government are now seeking expressions of interest for organisations to deliver a reusable coffee cup trial program in Canberra.
The 12-month trial will see a swap and go model that will be free for local cafes and customers to participate in.
The program will encourage a reuse system for customers and will allow them to get a coffee from one café and be able to return the cup to another participating café.
The exact schematics of how the trial will work are yet to be figured out.
“Australians consume more than 50,000 cups of coffee every 30 minutes. With this trial, we’re encouraging more Canberrans to make the simple switch from disposable to reusable,” Minister for Sustainability Shane Rattenbury said.
“We’re going out today with an EOI … so that Canberrans can drink their coffee knowing that they’re not contributing to throwing things away every day with those single-use products that are part of our lives and we want to get away from as much as we can.”
Minister Rattenbury said this new model is an extension of what some Canberrans currently do by carrying their own reusable cups.
“Keep cups are great and I’m really glad some people are using them, but this is, I guess, the next model; it means you don’t have to worry about forgetting it. You can just turn up,” he said.
Dickson café Sfoglia are in the process of launching their own reusable “swap and go” cup trial program with cup provider, Huskee.
“You just come in with your used cup, hand it over, keep your lid and we’ll make your coffee and off you go,” Sfoglia owner Michael Taurasi told Canberra Daily.
“We wash it as you would any other cutlery and crockery we have here; we’re using the right chemicals to clean so it’s all done in a hygienic fashion.”
Mr Taurasi said he’s noticed a great appetite for reducing waste amongst his customers.
“Customers like to know they’re getting value for money … If you give them a little discount with the incentive of doing a bit for the environment then they’ll support you.
“We can manage this quite easily because a lot of the products we have here for takeaway are paper-based. We try and make sure they’re products that are quite easily biodegradable,” Mr Taurasi said.
Organisations interested in delivering the trial can contact the Actsmart team at [email protected]
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