No Cup? Swap Cup
The Sustainable Campus team is thrilled about Swap Cup, a new innovative solution to combat the 2.7 million disposable cups Australians throw into landfill daily.
University of Melbourne commerce students have partnered with Mirko Angele, owner of Baretto’s (Alan Gilbert Building) and Porta Via (Melbourne Law School), to launch the Swap Cup system in his two cafés. Swap Cup allows users the flexibility to drop off their cup at Baretto’s or Porta Via in exchange for a small token clip. The token can be presented and exchanged for a clean cup which captures a market of people who do not wish to carry a reusable cup throughout the day.
The Swap Cup is a robust, reusable plastic cup that is dishwasher safe, easy to clean and stackable which makes it user-friendly for the barista. For the customer, a 50c discount on every drink purchased incentivises the Swap Cup – without having to remember to bring your own.
Mr Angele identified that from a café owner perspective, the Swap Cup scheme will help reduce inefficiencies associated with cleaning dirty BYO cups and ensures that the cup is sanitised to industry standards – a difficulty often faced when presented with dirty reusable cups.
The pilot program raises awareness around sustainability issues and helps address waste and recycling targets in the 2017-2020 Sustainability Plan whilst engaging with the university community, as well.
Any Swap Cup purchased will include a free coffee.
Swap Cup home page