KeepCup pushes for increase of coffee prices in ploy to change consumer behaviour

Cafes have been called on to add an additional charge to the price of coffees sold in a bid to encourage more people to bring their own cup.

KeepCup is calling on an increase in price of coffee sold in disposable cups. Picture: NCA NewsWire/James Gourley

If you thought coffee prices were already pretty steep, one company is pushing for them to be increased even further.

Not in a ruse to exploit customers though, its purpose would be to encourage people back into the habit of bringing their own reusable cups for their morning beverage.

Getting discounted coffee for bringing a reusable cup will be a distant memory for most consumers, with single-use cups muscling their way back into people’s routines during the pandemic.

Now that Covid is posing less of a threat in hospitality settings however, KeepCup is pressing for cafes to consider a new approach to move away from disposable cups.

KeepCup founder and managing director Abigail Forsyth has encouraged cafes to tack an additional fee onto the price of coffees purchased by people without a reusable cup.

KeepCup is calling on an increase in price of coffee sold in disposable cups. Picture: NCA NewsWire/James Gourley

“Pre-pandemic when people were using reusables, it had become common practice for people to get a discount, and the discounts were quite large, so it was costing the cafes to fill them,” Ms Forsyth told news.com.au.

“As cafes are coming out of Covid and they’ve had a really tough time during the pandemic, it seems a better idea to flip it the other way and charge extra for people that want a disposable cup.”

She added the tactic would support businesses financially in their Covid recovery, as well as help reduce the volume of single-use plastic that ended up in the environment.

Even if the extra charge to buy a coffee in a single-use cup was something between 10 and 30 cents, Ms Forsyth said it would go a long way towards changing broader consumer behaviour.

“It just makes you think, ‘hang on, do I really need that?’,” she said.

“It’s not about saving money, it’s about just thinking about the impact of your behaviour long-term, and saying ‘I really want to make that change’.”

Consumers were typically well-versed on the impact of plastics on the environment in 2022, and potentially would be successfully “nudged” in the right direction by the prospect of pricier coffee, Ms Forsyth added.

“It’s about nudging that behaviour change so that you’re giving people an incentive or a reminder to go, ‘that’s how I would like to have my coffee’,” she said.

While an undoubtedly lengthy journey to become a fully sustainable society laid ahead, Ms Forsyth said it was inevitable that eventually businesses would totally ban single-use plastics.

“What we’re aiming for is a world where everyone’s reusing and there are no disposable cups, because only nine per cent of single use plastic made since the 1950s has been recycled,” she said.

“So the whole idea that we’re going to recycle our way out of this is a myth.”

Disposable cups made from compostable or recyclable materials weren’t the answer, she added.

“You’re just swapping one problem for the same problem in a different material.”