Borrow A Cup! Escape Coffee Takes on Exciting Initiative to Minimise Waste
One in every three coffee consumers BYO cups, but even the most diligent forget and may need/desire a vessel to fulfil their morning routine. What do you do in a pinch?
According to Stuff’s Leith Huffadine’,”We guzzle our way through 295 million cups of takeaway coffee a year. Most can't be recycled and end up in landfill.” This was reported back in 2018. Finally, two years later, we are gaining some momentum to combat this waste challenge.
Now, the retailer has taken the next step to encourage positive behavioural change. Escape Coffee are the first movers in Taranaki and they’ve enthusiastically taken up the initiative to help their customers be more sustainable. There are 178 other coffee retailers in New Zealand that have also implemented “Borrow A Cup” which are stainless steel, reusable cups that come in two sizes (eventually pint size for the keen festival goer…hint hint WOMAD), and cost $3. Escape has purchased an arsenal of cups, pictured to the right, for purchase and reuse, similar to the Beach Road glass milk bottles. There are also some fashionable hospice mugs available for those that aren’t quite ready to “borrow a cup.” With every cup purchase, Escape will use that towards buying more cups to continue the wave of change in our community.
There are 178 coffee retailers in New Zealand who have adopted this scheme, and there are 22 that have completely eliminated one-use cups. Escape will join the ranks of both the former and the latter by the end of September 2020.
If you have some spare glass jars with lids, they will be collecting these as alternatives to coffee cups as well - another way to reuse vessels again and again. Not to mention a trendy step forward for those who wish to crochet their own design as a cup holder. Ask Logan about the wetsuit koozie concept for all the keen surfers out there.
