#ContactfreeCoffee Service

Due to heightened Covid-19-related hygiene concerns, many coffee shops have once again stopped accepting customers’ reusable cups, and some continue to only use disposable cups in-house, drastically increasing the amount of waste they create. There are ways to ensure the safety of both customers and staff with a ‘contact-free’ or ‘no-touch’ system for handling customers’ reusable cups.

Coffee shop staff can follow this system for a #ContactfreeCoffee experience:

1. Wash hands and surfaces regularly.

2. The customer puts their reusable cup on a tray and passes the tray to the staff.

3. The staff pours the coffee into an in-house reusable cup and then pours it into the customer’s cup, without touching the customer’s cup. Repeat with the coffee. The staff offers the customer their cup on the tray.

If your favourite coffee shop won’t accept your cup, ask them to try #ContactfreeCoffee service 

Why Are Disposable Coffee Cups A Problem?

Disposable coffee cups are usually made from paper and a layer of plastic to make the cup waterproof. This lining makes them difficult (but not impossible) to recycle, and there is no easy collection system for recycling these cups. HK landfills are filling up quickly so we should not be adding to them with unnecessary waste.If you do end up with a reusable cup, go ‘topless’ and ask for no lid, and be sure to rinse your cup and recycle at your closest Green Community recycling location.

This Unnecessary Waste Can Be Avoided!

What Can You Do As A Consumer?

1. Avoid coffee shops that don’t provide reusable cups

2. Always ask for a reusable cup

3. Bring your own reusable cup, and request #ContactfreeCoffee service

4. If they don’t agree to #ContactfreeCoffee service, write to them to suggest that they try it, sharing the instructions and video with them (template letter below)

5. Share this message through social media

67% of customers use disposable

cups for drinking hot drinks while sitting in coffee shops!*

*Based on a Pre-Covid 19 survey in Hong Kong of 7,792 people across 223 coffee shops over 522 visits

Copy this template letter to send to a coffee shop, or create your own

Dear Coffee Shop name,

Based on gov’t data, in 2021 over 10,800 tonnes of waste went to landfill every day in Hong Kong and 266 tonnes per day was made up of plastic dining ware. We are creating too much waste, and a lot of it is unnecessary.

I went to your coffee shop located at location on date at around time. and was not able to to use my own take-away cup and instead had to use a disposable one. This creates unnecessary and avoidable waste. I understand that due to Covid-19, you want to keep your staff as well as your customers safe and have chosen not to allow people to use their own cups. I would like to share with you that there there are ways to ensure the safety of both customers and staff with a ‘contact-free’ or ‘no-touch’ system for handling customers’ take-away cups, as follows:

1. Staff wash their hands and surfaces regularly.

2. The customer puts their reusable cup on a tray and passes the tray to the staff.

3. The staff pours the coffee into an in-house reusable cup and then pours it into the customer’s cup, without touching the customer’s cup. Repeat with the milk. The staff offers the customer their cup from the tray.

I hope that you will consider this method of service so that I can once again enjoy your coffee in my own reusable cup. Please have a look at this video to see contact-free service in action.

Best regards,

Take Action: Companies 

What Can the Coffee Shops Do To Reduce Coffee Cup Waste?

1. If there are hygiene concerns, offer #ContactfreeCoffee service
2. Train staff to ask whether the customer is staying in or taking away, and the default should be a to-stay cup
3. Offer incentives to customers to bring their own reusable cup to avoid the use of disposables
4. Advertise the incentive well so that customers know about it
5. Stop opening shops in locations where you are unable to wash reusable cups and customers are forced to use disposables

 

Coffee shops should not wait for future legislation but should start making changes as soon as possible.

Take Action:  Government

What Can Government Do To Reduce Coffee Cup Waste?

1.  Ban the use of disposable tableware for dine-in service in catering establishments
2. Ensure that coffee shops offer reusable cups through the food and beverage licensing system

Did You Know?

In 2020, 266 tonnes of plastic dining ware was sent to landfill in Hong Kong. 

Did You Know?

67% of people are using disposable cups for their hot drinks while SITTING in a coffee shop, based on a pre-Covid survey. What a waste!