The war on waste has reached new heights with the sale of reusable coffee cups and water bottles increasing exponentially.
ABC TV’s War on Waste series, which aired recently, highlighted the fact that 98 per cent of disposable coffee cups are not recyclable and therefore end up in landfill. So manufacturers such as Melbourne based frank green decided to do something about it.
The company saw huge spikes in its sale of reusable products following the series, says frank green owner and reuse campaigner, Ben Young.
“The positive momentum this program has created is fantastic,” says Young. “We have seen sales for our frank green SmartCup increase more than 10 fold since the final episode aired.
“Furthermore, we are hearing from our café partners that reuse at the point of purchase in cafés is also on the rise as Australians get behind this ‘war on waste’.”
Owner of Tom Thumb café, Darren Tiang, says the impact the TV show has had on his customers’ behaviour is incredible.
“We sold out of our stock of frank green SmartCups within a week and we are filling all kinds of reusable cups in much higher numbers on a daily basis,” he says. “It’s great to see our customers react with such positive change.”
When Young couldn’t find a reusable coffee cup back in 2014 that had everything he needed he decided to create one, with the aim to drive greater reuse among Australians with better product design, style and functionality.
“Our key challenge now is to ensure this momentum continues through product innovation, by keeping the conversation going, and development of systems such as CaféPay that encourage and reward regular usage of reusable cups.”
CaféPay, developed in partnership with frank green, is a payment system moving fast into cafes all around Australia. It reads a chip embedded in the frank green SmartCup, SmartBottle or SmartBand to take your order, make secure cash payments, store value on the cup and reward loyalty with free coffees and special offers.
“The intention of CaféPay is to keep the need to reuse top of mind, every day and why not reward reusers for their behaviour,” adds Young. “And given the rates of growth we are having with CaféPay, our café partners couldn’t agree more.”
By Marion Gerritsen
