Motueka’s goal: no takeaway coffee cups
One Kiwi community is trying to go coffee cup-free – and other areas hope to follow suit. Is it working? Leith Huffadine reports.
Steph Fry hopes Motueka will one day be free of takeaway coffee cups – or as near to that as possible. It’s a bold vision and, so far, it’s working so well that other New Zealand towns and international organisations from places such as New York are keen to adopt the model for themselves.
Since starting in July 2017 at Fry’s cafe, Celsius Coffee, the project – called Cupcycling – has diverted about 8000 takeaway cups from landfill.
By January, nine cafes in the South Island town were participating, with more lined up to join. Fry said the initiative had ‘‘snowballed’’.
People pay $10 at a participating cafe for a coffee and the ongoing use of a Cupcycling cup. They take their used cup back to a Cupcycling outlet and get their next coffee in a clean one.
The reusable cups are manufactured by IdealCup – which is also run by Fry and her partner.
The initiative relies on reusable coffee cups featuring disposable, compostable lids. People are encouraged to drop their compostable lids back at cafes or proper disposal.
‘‘There’s a couple of reasons for that. The first one is, as a component of the overall item, the lid is quite expensive and it seems to be the first thing that gets lost by people or damaged,’’ Fry said.
The second is that people don’t want to use a lid that someone else has. ‘‘That’s interesting because when you go to a cafe you drink out of the same cup someone else has, you use the same cutlery and plate someone else has, but people just have a sticking point around putting their lips on a lid someone else has drunk out of.’’
Fry estimated that the ‘‘majority’’ of Motueka coffee outlets would be involved within the next three months. She had been pleasantly surprised at the speed of uptake by locals.
She guessed her business would eventually divert about 11,000 cups per year. Given there were 27 cafes in Motueka, even if they used fewer cups than Celsius Coffee in a regular year, Fry estimated that if everyone got on board, there was potential to stop more than 200,000 takeaway cups from going to landfill.
‘‘I think the reality is, if we are honest with ourselves and honest with the community, I don’t think we will ever be able to say it is disposable cup-free, because there are occasions where a customer will come in and say I want my coffee in that takeaway cup.
‘‘And as a business, we have not got any right to tell them they can not have a coffee in a takeaway cup.’’
But Fry had learned education was key. Often, simply stopping people to explain Cupcycling was enough to get them involved.
Support and expansion
Her campaign has the support of Tasman District Council (TDC) and Nelson City Council (NCC). Fry said data was being provided to the councils to help identify the reduction in waste going to the region’s landfills.
Nelson’s council was also supporting other cup recycling schemes, she added, while TDC was helping her create ‘‘blueprint-able’’ plans for Cupcycling so other regions could adopt the same strategy.
It was also helping to push the campaign into nearby Richmond and Nelson, she said.
‘‘It’s a ripple effect that’s already happening. We’ve got interest from other regions down south and up north so we hope to get documented support from NCC, then we will be able to take that to other councils and get them on board as well.’’
However, Fry said, with ‘‘margins screwed down and tight’’ a new initiative like Cupcycling could be a challenge for some businesses.
That’s where assistance and subsidies from councils could help cafes, she said.
TDC community relations manager Chris Choat said it had given the campaign $1000 and also supported Cupcycling at events with $1255. The council also encouraged more coffee suppliers both in and outside of the Motueka region to participate.
‘‘Tasman District Council is interested in reducing waste across the region, and as there is a high number of coffee cups ending up in our landfill, this is an easy way for communities to reduce waste.’’
Choat also discussed wider interest in the campaign from Nelson and Upper Hutt city councils.
‘‘IdealCup is also talking with
‘‘The cafes are sticking their noses out by putting the planet first – so you should, too. And your barista will remember your coffee order.’’
Laura Cope,
Use Your Own Cup director
Cromwell, Devonport, Titirangi and New Plymouth, who have also shown great interest in implementing CupCycling in their regions.
‘‘We’ve even had contact from a very passionate Zero Waste team called Cup Switch, based in New York, wanting to talk about how we could get Cupcycling happening there.’’
There was movement starting to happen around expanding this initiative to other areas in Tasman, including at council-owned facilities, Choat said. ‘‘It is creating awareness and education around reducing waste that may expand further than only coffee cups but [to] their homes as well.’’
A popular idea
Other New Zealand cafes have started similar initiatives for their own businesses.
Among them are the Eden Cafe at Otago Polytechnic, the Lincoln Pantry in Lincoln, and the Sign Of The Kiwi on Christchurch’s Port Hills. Dozens more eateries welcome customers who want to bring their own cups.
Use Your Own Cup is an online directory that can guide you to cafes around the country where you will be welcomed if you take your own vessel.
Director Laura Cope said the 113 cafes on its directory were spread throughout the country.
‘‘It does not have to be a purposebuilt cup, it can be anything. The cafes are sticking their noses out by putting the planet first – so you should, too. And your barista will remember your coffee order.’’
Many of the cafes also sell reusable cups.
A final idea worth considering is this: There are bigger waste issues out there, environmentally speaking.
It’s just that this is an issue close to our everyday existence and therefore, gets more attention
than others.
●➤ This is the final instalment of a fivepart Stuff series looking at takeaway coffee cups in New Zealand.