Helping local cafes reduce waste and save money

Are you a local cafe looking for ways to reduce waste and save money? Well, Council may just have the solution.

We are offering assistance to a limited number of cafes to get started with one of the 4 ‘swap and go’ coffee cup systems on the Northern Beaches.

There are currently more than 30 cafes on the Northern Beaches using either Green Caffeen, Huskee Swap, Returnr or Claycups swap and go systems.

Under the swap and go system, customers get their coffee in a reusable cup, which they can either return to the café or to another café using the same swap system. 

Eligible cafes can apply through an Expression of Interest on Council’s website. Selected cafes will receive a stock of cups and ongoing support from the Swap for Good team and system providers. 

The Swap for Good team are also hosting a webinar on 10 November at 6pm with a panel of swap and go providers to answer all your questions. Register at Council’s website or email [email protected].

The benefit of the swap and go system is that if customers forget to bring their own cup to the café, or it is inconvenient to do so, they don’t need to take their coffee in a takeaway cup

It can simply be taken in a swap and go cup which can be returned to any participating café at a time of their choosing or when they next order their coffee.

Australians use one billion disposable coffee cups per year, which generally can’t be recycled and could easily be avoided with a reusable cup.

The figures tell the story. If 50 customers use the system at each café, this has the potential to save 620,500 cups from landfill each year.

If 200 customers use the system at each café, this could add up to 2.48 million cups, spared from landfill.

The swap and go systems also make business sense. Based on 50 cups used in one day, each café would save $2,700 a year, due to reduced packaging costs (assuming a disposable coffee cup and lid is 0.15c).

At some busier cafes, based on a daily usage rate of 200, savings could be in the order of $10,900 a year.