New environmental experience! 90 Wellington cafes to launch zero waste coffee cups

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Wellington's new Zero waste Coffee Cup program will be expanded to about 90 cafes this year and possibly to Auckland.

Nada Piatek, co-founder of the coffee cup company, said the result of the "re-use" of zero-waste coffee cups in the capital last year was "excellent", with all 14 cafes agreeing to pay at the end of the trial, Stuff News reported.

"people like the feeling of cups," Piatek said. "people say stainless steel feels strange at first, but it actually gives people a sense of cleanliness."

Now, the company has received NZ $10,000 from Wellington City Council and plans to extend the recyclable cups to 90 cafes by the end of August. Its goal is to save at least 60,000 coffee cups from landfills after six months of promotion.

If you want to take the stainless steel coffee cup away, you will be charged a deposit of NZ $3, which will be refunded when the cup is returned to any coffee shop that participates in the promotion. Where they will be cleaned and disinfected.

Piatek said they were not sure how many cups had not been returned. "some people have three or four cups on their desks, and they end up thinking,'Oh, I should give them back'."

Piatek said the goal of the pilot program is to get 20% of customers to choose to use "re-use" coffee cups instead of takeout cups. This goal has been exceeded, with 23% of people opting for steel cups.

"from an environmental point of view, this means that there are 1/4 fewer cups that are bad for the environment." She says most cafes have reached the point where the plan is economically viable. "in the end, 100 percent of the cafes chose to pay for our cups."

Piatek said about 30 cafes are waiting to join, and 150 cafes have expressed their interest. Event organizers and large companies have also contacted the company, and the company is setting up a pilot with the Oakland Cafe.

"We have had four employees since last July." During the pilot period, 4,000 cups are in circulation, and by mid-March there will be 21,000, she said.

People are realizing the convenience of these cups and the changes they bring. Feedback shows that some customers do not like to share the lid, although it has been commercially sterilized, so Piatek is working on an alternative to the personal cup lid.

New Zealanders send about 295 million takeout cups to landfills each year, most of which are thrown away after one use.

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