A lot of our textiles and clothing garments are unfortunately entirely or at least partly made from synthetic materials, including Polyester, Viscose, Nylon, Elastane, Polyester (Polar) Fleece + many trademarked textiles. Teeny microfibres from these materials are shed during each laundry cycle and are washed away with our machine’s wastewater - ending up in essentially every part of our ecosystem. Our water, our air, our soil, our produce and our whānau! These fibres can be extremely detrimental to our natural world. Once in our environment, the tiny microplastics irreversibly degrade into smaller and smaller particles and are impossible to retrieve.

Our society is ready for change. This one is for you coffee slingers!

When it comes to making a positive change for our local communities and our wider world, the good news is it is easier than ever to do your bit as a coffee retailer! Alternatives to the dreaded takeaway cup do exist. Thankfully the use of ‘keep cups’ has increased massively. If you own, manage or work in a coffee dispensary here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Talk it through with your staff

Their engagement is key. Talk together about how you all feel and reassure them that they will be supported moving forward.

Line up your alternatives

This is key. It’s like parenting (as is much of hospo right?)! It is always best to anticipate the objections you may face and line up solutions before they come up. Do your research on how to transition away from throwaway culture to ensure the switch is smooth sailing. That could look like a mug library, a reuse system or giving your keep cup users a bonus for getting on board.

Engage with your customers

Talk to your locals and regulars. Use your social media (if you have it) and posters to prepare your customers. There are free downloads on the UYO website via the ‘SIGNS CAMPAIGNS GUIDES’ button that you are welcome to take, edit or use as inspiration.

Talk it through with your coffee supplier

Coffee roasters are happy not to have their branding on single-use rubbish as they clog up rubbish bins or are littered on the street. Run your ideas past them. Some are more progressive than others and may have ways to support you in regard to supplying reusables for retailing or to loan you cups as you move forward. And the next time you order single-use cups (it won’t be forever right?) request that they are plain, unbranded. This will remove the temptation to your staff, and your customers, to promote throwaway culture on social media.

Takeaway or disposable cups are gradually being eliminated from hospitality vendors around the country, as the use of ‘keep cup’s has increased massively. Good on you Kiwi’s! Most of us know by now that takeaway cups and service-ware are not doing us or our world any favours, but lets break this issue down a little further. When it comes to takeaway cups, what are they really made from and what keeps the coffee inside? All disposable coffee cups have something more than paper present in their design. There are many reasons we encourage consumers to put down the paper cups in favour of the keep variety and we would like to share some right here.

Everyone loves a laundry day companion and Res.Awesome is here to help. We are excited to introduce our latest stocked item available for purchase; The Guppy Friend. This is a truly revolutionary product that can help our community divert harmful microplastics from our waterways and natural environment.