Coffee cups are BYO at Putney cafes
PUTNEY is poised to be the first suburb in Australia to do away with the disposable coffee cup.
Northern District Times
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PUTNEY is poised to be the first suburb in Australia to do away with the disposable coffee cup.
All five cafes in the suburb have embraced the environmentally-driven reusable cup culture, and encourage reusable cups by offering customers discounts.
They are among the more than 60 cafes across Ryde participating in the Responsible Cafes program.
Two North Ryde neighbours have driven the take-up.
Corina Seeto and Jo Taranto are friends with a shared interest in the environment.
They began talking to cafe owners about the benefits of reusable cups — as traditional ones cannot be recycled — and encouraged them to take part.
Ms Seeto said: “We love the community we live in and we want to make it greater. If we can just encourage people to make good choices, like switching to reusable cups and saving cash, it’s a nice first step.”
Many coffee cups contain polyethylene, a plastic which is difficult to recycle.
Putney cafes were particularly responsive to reusable ones, according to Ms Taranto.
“Putney was overwhelmingly engaged. We didn’t have to work hard here,” she said.
The cafes display signage encouraging customers to bring a cup. Most offer discounts of 30c.
Dorian Guardala, who runs Dolcini Cafe at Putney, was one of those approached.
“My first impressions was it’s going to be hard to get people to change habits,” he said.
“But the saving is making people change their habits.
“We’re starting to see more people bring their own cup week in, week out.”
The owner of Black Toque Patisserie, Tim Brett, was happy to give the discount.
“We’ve had a lot of customers from the beginning who’ve brought their cups so it’s good to see them rewarded,” he said.
Mr Guardala said the discount was a 10c shortfall for the business, but was recouped in goodwill.
The traders said the number of customers gaining the discount was not yet significant on a daily basis, but that the number was growing.
Ms Seeto and Ms Taranto have started a ‘5 for Ryde’ campaign, promoting five easy ways people can reduce their environmental impact.
Ryde Council has backed their efforts with a $1,000 grant and support.