The challenge is on to coffee lovers to take their own mugs when buying takeaway coffee – and save money in the process.
Dungog Shire Council is urging cafes to help reduce disposable coffee cup waste by offering discounts to customers who bring in reusable cups.
Customers are also being encouraged to change their behaviours by using reusable mugs.
Council has partnered with the Responsible Cafes initiative, which encourages cafes to sell reusable cups at discounted rates, and to also offer discounts on hot drinks for customers who bring a reusable cup.
Typically, participating cafes offer a 30c-50c discount to customers who bring their own reusable mug.
The Council is leading by example by providing its staff with reusable coffee mugs and has issued a challenge to other businesses in the shire to follow suit.
“In our administration building alone we have on average 10 staff who purchase a daily coffee,” said Council’s Environmental Compliance Officer Holley Patterson.
“Where these staff utilise reusable mugs at our local participating cafes, they may save around $120 and collectively remove around 2400 disposable coffee mugs from going to landfill each year.
Ms Patterson has visited 12 cafes in the shire to spread the word, and has received a resounding interest in the program, finding that many had already signed up to the program and the majority willing to do so.
Some of these include the Paterson Servo Paterson, Coffee Bean Dungog , Chill Billies Café Dungog , Vacy General Store, Gresford General Store/Cross Roads Café, Twin Rivers Café Gresford, The Long Room Dungog, William River Café Clarence Town and Shaw’s Bakery (William River Bakery).