Bondi cafe slammed for paper cup overuse by residents, local businesses

A throwaway coffee cup stoush is brewing on Bondi streets, with a calls for a popular cafe to be stripped of footpath seating until it embraces an environmentally-sustainable approach. Have your say.

A throwaway coffee cup stoush is brewing on Bondi streets, with calls for a popular cafe to be stripped of footpath seating until it embraces an environmentally-sustainable approach.

La Piadina, an Italian flatbread cafe in North Bondi, has recently been exclusively selling coffee in paper cups with plastic lids to both eat-in and takeaway customers due to staff shortages.

A small group of six residents recently lashed out at the business’ wasteful antics and called on council to knock back an application for the business to use the footpath for outdoor cafe seating.

“Give them this license on the condition they stop only serving coffee in takeaway cups,” one commenter said, using the name Leave a Tiny Footprint. “They need to lower their footprint. Covid is gone and no longer an excuse.”

Another commenter, using the name ‘Nup to the Cup’, noted the community’s strong commitment to environmental issues.

La Piadina cafe, Bondi. Picture: Craig Wilson

“The operators of La Piadina need to be aware that locals like me are very unimpressed. We are so close to the ocean and taking care of the environment is on all of our minds,” the commenter said.

La Piadina owner Damiono Zizioni told the Wentworth Courier the public pressure was unfair given the strain placed on hospitality businesses over the last two years.

Takeaway cups in use at La Piadina in Bondi.

He said the use of paper coffee cups was a temporary measure to reduce washing up and cafe maintenance due to a reduction in staff, which has dropped from 11 workers to just three across the past two years.

“I open the door at 7am and close at 11pm every night,” Mr Zizioni said, speaking about the efforts made to keep his business operating.

He said the outrage focused attention on one thing – single use cups – at the expense of other waste caused by the to-go food sector.

“Deliveroo or Uber or Doordash, they got really, really popular. People focus on the cups, but there’s … hundreds of boxes and plastic bags, plastic cups that people deliver [everyday] to people’s homes,” he said.

For local residents, protecting the natural beauty of Bondi is paramount. Picture: Damian Shaw

Environmental group Friend of the Earth Sydney spokesman Cam Walker said he sympathised with challenges faced by the hospitality industry but said it was important the cafe clearly communicated its plans to transition back to china cups for diners.

He said there had been an overwhelming increase in waste as a result of the Covid pandemic and lockdowns.

“We’ve seen a massive uptake in throwaway cups. I think all of us know in our lives the amount of waste that is generated as a result of the pandemic is enormous,” he said.

“Whether it’s the RATs that we’re taking, whether it’s the takeaway food that we’re having because we’re stuck at home. There is much more waste in our lives and we should all be trying to get back to a system where we are more sustainable.”

Sondra Beram says the response to removing takeaway cups had been overwhelmingly positive.

Only a few streets from La Piadina, Bru Cafe has taken a radically different approach and no longer offers takeaway cups.

Owner Sondra Beram said the response had been amazing, with lots of communication made with the local clientele so they could adapt their routine.

The cafe has installed a ‘mug library’ and encourages customers to bring their own KeepCup or mug. Residents are even welcome to take the cafe’s mugs with them and return them when they can.

Ms Beram said her business was saving up to $1000 per week because she was no longer buying takeaway cups.

Of the neighbouring cafe’s current operations, she said; “I don’t know what to say”.

“I’m short-staffed. You’ve still got to do dishes anyway. There’s still washing to do.

“We’ve got so many options so people can walk away with a coffee. And if they still walk away without a coffee … they’re probably not for Bru,” she said. “We’re not going back.”

A Waverley Council spokesman told the Wentworth Courier La Piadina footpath permit renewal was pending but it would make a decision soon.

“Paper cup use is not considered when determining such applications,” the spokesman said, adding that for it to be considered in the future “this would have to be a council-wide initiative.”