Sydney’s Inner West Council today announced plans to roll out a reusable coffee cup scheme that will hopefully cut down on the 50,000 takeaway coffee cups thrown out in Australia every 30 minutes. The scheme will work by customers returning the washed cups to any participating cafes in the inner west, so they can continue to be used.
The scheme’s pilot was voted for positively by the council last night and looks set to be happening very soon. A similar scheme has worked well in Germany, and the council hopes it will work well in Sydney too. inner west Mayor Darcy Byrne told Broadsheet “The reason it can work, and has worked in Germany, is because it does away with the disincentive. Customers don’t want to carry around a dirty coffee cup with them all day and remember to take it home and wash it.”
Related: Three Of Sydney’s Best Brunch Spots
The council plans to cover the costs of the scheme which are expected to be above $10,000, but reason that it will cut costs in other places such as landfill costs. Whilst no definitive timeline has been set for a roll out, the government is hopeful we’ll see inner west cafes carrying the cups very soon.
Byrne confirmed that many cafes were eager to get on board, saying “I have already been in contact with a number of cafes in the inner west and everyone I’ve spoken to is very enthusiastic about the project,”. During the same vote for the new scheme, the council also voted to become a partner in the Responsible Cafes program which promotes reusable coffee cups and environmental consciousness within cafes and venues.
Watch: A Melbourne tram was filled with 50,000 disposable coffee cups.
