Never mind the roses, smell the coffee! Local cafés have joined the fight to reduce waste with the help of Waste Wizards, recent recipients of a Waste Minimisation Grant from Taupō District Council.

The Again Again app is a nationwide initiative to reduce the amount of coffee cups being thrown away. However you get your coffee fix, this is an environmentally friendly way to reduce the millions of coffee cups that end up in landfills every year.

Sign up for free and get your favourite café to join too. Taupō’s Sports Café owner Kashif Shuja has found the Again Again app beneficial as it reduces coffee cups and wastage.

“I think it’s a great idea and initiative,” Kashif said.

“We hardly use disposable cups now. The product is excellent and their service is very good.”

Billions of single-use coffee cups, which can only go in the rubbish bin, are discarded globally every year. Takeaway coffee cups are not recyclable anywhere in New Zealand and estimates show Kiwis alone throw out nearly 300 million coffee cups a year. But it’s not all bad news. Collectively we can all contribute and be part of the solution for now, and the next generation.

Camilla Baker’s Cozy Corner Café was the first Taupō business to achieve the platinum stage of the Resource Wise Business Programme and joined Waste Wizards in April.

“A lot of our customers are keen to reduce their waste footprint,” Camilla said.

“We signed up as we are firm believers in ‘you have to start somewhere’, meaning we all have to help each other adapt and lean towards new ways and we need to have as much exposure to the new ways as possible.”

Everyone in the Taupō District can support this amazing vision, and it won’t even cost you a cent! Think of it like a library, but for coffee cups instead of books. Download the Again Again app to your phone and get yourself set up. When you arrive at a participating café, you’ll scan a QR code to check out your cup – for free! – and you just return it within seven days to avoid incurring a fee. It’s just as easy as using a takeaway cup, but better for the environment.

Waste Wizards’ Vinnie Callister, who set up a returnable cup scheme, recognises the whole community needs to be involved to make the app a success.

“It's going well, but it's been tough. Behaviour change is tough business. We want many more cafés on board. They can join by contacting info@makewastehistory.org.”

Applicants to the Waste Minimisation Fund Grant can apply for up to $2000 for their project.

“The process with Taupō District Council was quick and easy,” Vinnie said.

“[Waste minimisation officer] Shannon Hanson is awesome to deal with and I hope this is just the start of a fruitful waste minimisation relationship.”

If you have a great idea on how to reduce waste, applications are open from 4 to 29 September. Find out more at www.taupo.govt.nz/grants or by emailing wasteminimisation@taupo.govt.nz.

Now, go treat yourself to that coffee.

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