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.

It’s coming up to the end of the year again, when we delight ourselves with dress ups, holidays + theme parties to keep the joy alive. First on the calendar for theme dress ups is Halloween.

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.

This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.