Are You Ready to Take the Sustainable September Challenge? …and Win?

How would you like to reduce your carbon footprint AND go in the running for one of four amazing sustainable prizes? Sustainable September has you covered.

We love any excuse for an entire month dedicated to sustainability, so we’re very excited at Responsible Cafes to be in the midst of Sustainable September! This is a great time to reflect on your daily sustainable habits to see where you’re kicking goals and where you could improve, gain tips and tricks from our team and get involved with our newest challenge… 

We talk a lot about habits and continuity at Responsible Cafes because we believe that the reuse movement is going to concur a big portion of our current dire environmental situation- and that starts with behaviour change.

We’re also aware that in our current climate people often feel overwhelmed with doom and gloom, understanding the seriousness of it all but feeling the problem is too much for one person to solve or have any impact. You’re not alone in that feeling, but let’s not give into it- there is so much impact that you can have as an individual. And we’re here to prove it! 

How often do you get to the supermarket and kick yourself because you forgot your reusable shopping bags? Or only after getting your takeaway smoothie do you remember your reusable straw is sitting at home? 

We’ve all been there. We understand the struggle. And we love to find solutions to these everyday sustainability problems. So, fear not! 

This month we teamed up with Zimbo to launch an  exciting sustainability challenge for all our keen beans to participate in. Zimbo is a personal sustainability app with the answer to a lot of our problems: not only does it help you remember all types of reusable items but it also tracks your carbon offset so you can begin to see the impact you are having with a personalised ‘Sustainability Score’. 

Just to give an example, in just a few weeks I’ve used reusable items 20 times which has equated my carbon offset to 33.76kg CO2e, saved a total of $3.20 and put my Sustainability Score as ‘On the Map’! Sustainability Scores range from ‘On the Map’ to ‘Role Model’- so watch this space as I make my way up!

Here’s how it works: 

1. Sign-up with the zimbo app on Apple or Android and receive your customised QR-code zimbo keychain in the mail
2. Log all the reusable items you own in your app
3. Any time you use one of your reusable items, scan your QR code!

With this information, the Zimbo app gathers the following insights: 

• The total count of reuse activity
• The combined carbon offset achieved from that reuse activity
• The savings achieved from reusing rather than buying new (particularly shopping bags)
• A personal ‘Sustainability Score’; much like a credit score, except driven by sustainable behaviour history 

To top it off, your personal Sustainability Score qualifies users for a variety of incentives and discounts from Zimbo’s corporate partners.

I’ve had my little blue Zimbo keychain hanging proudly from my keys (which I’m hardly ever without) for a couple of weeks now and already I’ve seen a shift in my habits. I’ve often found myself halfway down the street on the way to my morning coffee when the realisation that I’d forgotten my reusable cup dawns upon me. Not to mention, as a surviving university student who studied an undergraduate in Global Studies (ie. constantly learning about the world’s problems) I have once been guilty of the mindset that it’s all just a bit too much, and what can I really do about it?

Thankfully, I’ve since shaken that off and realised that individual actions is where it all begins. If just one person used their reusable coffee cup every Friday (hello BYOFridays..) for a year, that’s 52 coffee cups saved from landfill- just from one person changing one tiny habit one day of the week. Maybe you take a friend to your BYOFriday coffee run. That’s 104 coffee cups saved from landfill a year. Now imagine how that one tiny habit change can translate to real change as it begins to seep into your everyday life, rather than just one day a week. And how the knock-on effects of that can begin to change the status quo… reusable coffee cups means less demand for single-use items. 

Perhaps you gift all your friends and family a reusable coffee cup for their birthday; now how many coffee cups are being saved from landfill? Tiny habits are important and Zimbo not only helps to keep you on track with them but shows you the impact you’re having in real time. 

What I like about Zimbo is the keychain makes it easy for me to remember to scan my QR code as I’m headed out the door for my takeaway coffee or grocery run. In fact, I’m excited to log it. I get a little kick out of it each time- a small proud moment in my day where I can log my reusable activity and begin to see the numbers climbing on my app. 

But it isn’t just the classic coffee cup and grocery bags. Zimbo has also added more niche reusable items like toothpaste tablets, reusable sushi trays, refillable cleaning products and body wash- even refillable kegs! They have items that I didn’t even know existed and now want to invest in. It’s a great knock-on effect of positive reusable greatness! 

Are you ready to take the Sustainable September challenge to do good for our planet and go in the running to win some amazing reusable prizes?!

Here’s how to participate: 

1. Download the Zimbo app (on Android or App Store) today. Join the free trial & receive your key-chain with your personal QR Code in the next 5-7days.
2. Scan your personalised QR code every time you BYO water bottle, coffee cup, shopping bags, etc. and GET POINTS
3. The 4 Keen Beans with the highest score on 01/10 will win these beautiful goodies:

x1 pack reusable containers from Replated

x1 pack reusable coffee cups from Pottery for the Planet

x1 reusable and adaptable lids from Lydy

x1 sticker from @Sea Shepherd

It’s time to get reusing keen beans- good luck! X