Following news KeepCup sales rose 690 percent in the wake of three part abcTV series War on Waste, the show has continued to positively impact sales of reusable containers.
Reuse manufacturers, such as frank green in Melbourne, have notice huge spikes in purchases of their SmartCupTM and SmartBottleTM directly following the airing of this series.
“The positive momentum this program has created is fantastic,” said Ben Young, founder and CEO at frank green enterprises. “We have seen sales for our frank green SmartCupTM increase more than ten fold since the final episode aired.”
“Furthermore, we are hearing from our café partners that reuse at the point of purchase in café’s is also on the rise as Australians get behind this “war on waste”.
Young estimates that typically only around 1.5–2 percent of all coffees sold are poured into reusable cups verses the 40 percent that are poured into disposable cups. Most recent estimates, however, show reusable figures have risen to between five percent and six percent of all coffee sales.
“Our key challenge now is to ensure this momentum continues through product innovation, by keeping the conversation going, and development of systems that encourage and reward regular usage of reusable cups,” he said.
According to the show, Australia is ranked fifth highest for generating the most municipal waste in the world. With 52 mega tonnes generated a year, our waste is growing at double the rate of our population.
While news that coffee cups are unable to be recycled circulated last year after a trial run by Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, the War on Waste series has made the discussion mainstream.
Most disposable coffee cups (98 percent) are not recyclable due to a coating of polyethylene plastic. With 1.2 of the three million coffees sold daily from cafes around Australia being poured into disposable cups, close to half a billion disposable cups end up in landfill every year, in Australia alone.
Darren Tiang, owner at Tom Thumb café in Melbourne’s CBD said: “The impact this tv show has had on our customers behaviours is incredible. We sold out of our stock of frank green SmartCupTM within a week and we are filling all kinds of reusable cups in much higher numbers on a daily basis. It’s great to see our customers react with such positive change”.
The abc’s War on Waste three part tv series is still available to watch on iview.