Sydney city is getting behind the 'BYO coffee cup' campaign in an effort to fight the war against takeaway coffee cups.
A new round of environmental knowledge exchange sponsorships backed by the City of Sydney will see new ideas and innovation in sustainability supported, according to Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
The three recipients of knowledge exchange sponsorships are:
- Responsible Cafes' BYO coffee cup campaign – encouraging cafes and their customers to ditch take-away coffee cups for good;
- The Total Environment Centre – for a national conference on solutions for marine plastic pollution;
- Energy Action – to improve compliance with energy efficiency legislation across city buildings.
“There’s no dedicated coffee cup recycling facility in Australia yet, so we’re getting behind the BYO coffee cup campaign to get to the root of the problem,” the Lord Mayor said.
“In our area alone, 100 million takeaway coffee cups end up in landfill every year – and each one takes around 50 years to decompose thanks to the plastic liner inside the cup.
“Responsible Cafés connects and promotes cafes that encourage customers to refuse takeaway cups for good, and they’re aiming to recruit another 100 new city cafes.
“We can’t tackle Sydney’s environmental challenges on our own, so grants like these are crucial if we’re going to make the change we need."
The project complements the ‘Choose.Reuse’ campaign by our national CitySwitch Green Office program, where CitySwitch companies challenge their staff to avoid disposable cups in the office.
Responsible Cafes founder Justin Bonesey the movement was growing at a rapid pace.
“We are in the midst of the biggest shift away from disposable coffee cups in our generation as there are now over 2500 cafes across Australia offering a discount to people with a BYO coffee cup - and growing by the day,” Bonesy said.
In early 2017, the City adopted Environmental Action 2016–2021, a five-year plan which outlined a vision to transform Sydney into a low carbon, zero waste and water-sensitive city.
