On January 1, the city of Vancouver became the first municipality in Canada to impose a one-time fee on disposable cups, and while many people are paying the extra 25 cents for a drink to go, interest in environmentally friendly alternatives is growing.
Jason Hawkins was co-founder of Reusables.com amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The zero-waste packaging as a service platform works like a bicycle part or car part for containers, including stainless steel double-walled cups.
Users download an application that gives them access to the shareable containers at all Reusables.com participating stores.
Businesses scan the application user’s QR code and deliver their drinks in a clean and disinfected mug that must be returned within 14 days.
“We’re really trying to help people change their behavior and make it easy and affordable,” Hawkins told Global News.
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After a free 30-day trial, membership costs $ 5 per month.
Hawkins said more than 40 cafes and restaurants are on board in Vancouver and North Vancouver where local coffee house JJ Bean was one of the first to adopt the cup-sharing program.
“I see the potential for growth,” said Burj Atsan, manager of JJ Bean Dollarton.
“People are always curious about what it is and how it works.”
Even major players like A&W Canada offer reusable copy sharing options to customers.
The fast-food chain last month launched an exchange cup program at twenty Greater Vancouver restaurants, including its UBC location, where more than half of the approximately 2,000 current memberships have been sold.
“What it’s really about is that we were the dishes for our guests,” said Susan Senecal, president and CEO of A&W Canada.
“So if you buy this cup and bring it back, we’ll give you a brand new one.”
Members pay $ 3 to join the Cup Crew Program and will receive a 20 cents discount each time they exchange their shareable mug to buy another hot or cold drink in a reusable mug.
The cups are cleaned and disinfected under what Senecal describes as “super high temperatures” in A & W’s commercial dishwashers.
“You can have every guarantee that just like our carrot beer mugs, anything else you get at A&W – it’s as good as new,” Senecal said.
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One customer of A&W Cup who joined to help the area said he was not worried about sharing reusable items during the pandemic.
“If there [are] “I think it’s well communicated – I do not think it’s a problem,” he told Global News.
A&W hopes to expand its shareable cup program to its restaurants across the country.
After a pandemic break, Starbucks in Canada and the US started accepting customers’ reusable cups again last summer in a contact free procedure available in store only.
The Seattle-based coffee giant is currently testing safe options for personal reusable cups in its driveway.
“Throughout Canada, communities are watching the city of Vancouver to see how things are progressing with the ordinance,” Hawkins said.
Reference-globalnews.ca