Douglas Shire Council staff are pledging to choose reusable coffee cups for the month of July as part of Plastic Free July.
Plastic Free July is a global movement created in Australia, which focuses on building new habits that can help to reduce single use plastics in the environment. The campaign invites schools, workplaces, individuals, and businesses to pledge their month-long challenge at Plastic Free July where they can also receive useful tips and resources for their challenges.
The goal is for more than 50% of Council staff to choose reusable coffee cups this month. Council staff have created a way to reuse their own coffee cups and by doing so, we are aiming to save between 150 – 200 single use coffee cups in July.
Douglas Shire Council Mayor Michael Kerr said “We encourage all Council staff to get on board, so we can increase this outcome by the end of the month”
“Australians use once and throw away more than 2.7 million single use coffee cups per day, that’s the equivalent to at least 1 billion coffee cups per year. We can all be empowered to reduce waste and single use plastic pollution by simply changing our habits around coffee. This is something that can be done at any time of the year, but Plastic Free July is a great time to start” said Helen Reilly, Coordinator of Plastic Free Cairns and Douglas.
“It takes time to create new habits around reusable cups but there are many options when ordering takeaway coffee in the Douglas Shire including:
• Bring Your Own (BYO) clean reusable cup
• Dine in with a reusable cup to avoid single use
• Borrow up to 2 free Green Caffeen reusable cups and return or swap within 30 days to any of the 7 participating cafes in the Douglas Shire
• Create a regular Mug or Cup Library for your team”.
To register your Plastic Free July pledge this month, visit the Plastic Free July Website Here
The Plastic Free Cairns & Douglas program run by the Boomerang Alliance and funded by the Queensland Government invites Douglas cafes to participate in a 3-week ‘Reusable Champions’ challenge designed to boost their percentage of reusables to single use. Participating cafes receive the social media spotlight for one month as well as access to unique promotional benefits and opportunities. Join now at www.plasticfreecairns.org/douglas
To learn more about accepting BYO reusable cups, visit the Plastic Free Places blog at https://www.plasticfreeplaces.org/post/accepting-byo-reusables
