The Reusable Cup Problem: A solution
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- čas přidán 5. 02. 2019
- Let me know if you want more stuff like this, from my work and general day to day projects?
Thanks to:
- KeepCup - they were really helpful with this project.
- The team at Prufrock
- The team at Square Mile for additional help making this happen.
I know other people are already running schemes like these - if you are, I'd love to hear about it! - Zábava
i once have been to Freiburg and was fascinated by their similar approach to this problem. They don't use keepcups but other very sturdy simple cups that you can give back almost everywhere around the city in any coffeeshop. I love it because you don't need to keep carrying the dirty cup around you can just drop it off at the next corners coffe shop and get your 2 Euros back for the cup. Or you can get another fresh cup of coffee.
Wow! I wish we had those in America. Thanks for the news James.
Personally I'd advocate this same idea but in partnership with other cafes. This is a good first step but until it can be exchanged at other cafes it's not going to make a real difference (and my main concern here is that by branding this a prufrock cup, you've already stopped expansion to other cafes in its tracks).
While that idea is good for the customer and environment, most cafes want their customers to come back to them, not another cafe.
And I'm not sure about others here, but I'm in Vancouver with hundreds of cafes but only frequent a couple. At least here, it's more common than not for people to have their favourite place and be quite loyal to it. The branded cup would increase that loyalty.
yeah and while we're at it 'bags for life' could be exchanged at any supermarket not just the one where you bought it
oh no... wait, *_b r a n d l o y a l t y_*
fckin kill me already. Not that I'm aggressively @'ing you Tellytubs, I'm just --really-- _catastrophically_ fucked off. With everything.
keep cup is a brand that any cafe could partner with
@@teletubbiestunetwister9570 I see your angle of view, but disagree somewhat. You said yourself; 100's around, you stick to a few. You don't stick to that few because a cup label tells you to. And I bet if you brought in shop X cup into shop Y, shop Y isn't going to refuse to use your cup because it isn't their branded cup. (And if they do, they're shits and deserve going out of business as they soon would) I also think that aspect of 'business ego' is or should be found less in the smaller shops. The 'big' brands, well, they fall for that corp bullshit because it's corp. bullshitters running the show. But I bet for the sake of stopping the disposable cup madness (and probably worse, the plastic lids), shops would be into it. Might even be set up like a co-op of some sort. Having said that, we seem to be steering towards plastic bans, so unnecessary paper could be next. (And bloody hell! Nothing spoils a coffee like those 'paper' lids they came up with to replace the plastic ones! Fuq me those taste wretched!)
I’ll admit to never having taken a dirty keep cup in to a coffee shop and expected it to be cleaned for me. Normally I simply wash it myself before I use it again
Having said that I haven’t really thought what I’d do if I were out for a day and wanted to use my cup multiple times. I genuinely like your scheme though, and think it provides a great answer to a question, that I don’t normally have, but suspect others do.
Gary Johnston I actually wash it myself. It's not the barista's job as the cafes have their own cups.
Most places I've been to will just rinse your dirty cup quickly with the hot water tap. It's never been a big deal. Now if it's dirty with day old milk or something, that's a different story.
This is almost exactly what my university is doing in their cafeteria.
Same here. At my University, there is a small coffee run by students. They use those 50ct ceramic cups that you can get from Ikea (They buy them in bulk). You get one when you buy a coffee and you are expected to bring it back later. There is no deposit. You always see students walking around with those on campus. They develope lots of tiny cracks over time (the kind that you can only see but not actually feel with your fingers), but they seem to hold up quite well.
The university in my city gives you a special token at the beginning of the year that you can exchange for a cup in a vending machine and when you are done with it you can turn it in at any of the machines and get a token back
@@MorzenMebs which uni is this and what country? Thanks!
It's the same in my university ^^
Gday James. We use Recup here in Bavaria. They're cheap at 1€ and you can use/exchange them at over 2000 coffe shops/ bakeries throughout germany. Also customisable. Pretty decent idea. Cheers mate.
well done Germany you wonderful heart warming bastards *_; )_*
Yes, and... we should standardize on the cups so that they can be returned to ANY coffee shop. Same for take-home containers at restaurants.
this is a brilliant idea. I work in a coffee shop here in Australia and people bringing in dirty keep cups only happens rarely, but I love this idea
Pablo and Rusty's in Sydney and Brisbane already do this scheme. Its such a great idea!
As a Coffee Shop Owner, that’s definitely an idea to look into 👌🏻
James, it's actually very interesting that you mention this. I live in Los Angeles and I've been working on a business plan for a café that I'm going to open. This has been one of my key focuses from the very beginning. The amount of unnecessary waste in traditional coffee shops has been driving me crazy, and I'm excited to offer a more sustainable alternative, and hopefully help push the industry forward.
Is your shop happening?
Wish I would send a private message.
dreamervanroom It will in time, but the market isn't in a good place right now to open, and I've moved temporarily as well.
Love the idea, James! And the customer will appreciate having the cup washed for them. It's a win/win/win!
The university I graduated from did this with to-go boxes. It worked really well!
This would be amazing if implemented in a whole bunch of cafes using the same system/cups.
Love this sort of video, just a couple of minutes and to the point. Keep them coming.
My local cafe in Perth, Australia did this during the pandemic, when people weren’t permitted to use their own cups. The cups they used were made from stainless steel, and if you wanted a lid they would provide a cardboard one. Even though most have now gone back to using their own there are still some who use this.
Excellent idea! We will share this idea with our local cafe owners here in Santa Rosa, California...
What a simple, elegant solution!
I'm a Barista and yes it's disgusting when customers bring in a reusable cup that has coffee in it sitting in their car for a few days.
it takes like two seconds to rinse it with boiling water. You don't have to scrub it down, that's their problem. And, by and large most people I make coffee for (who bring in cups) bring them in clean anyways. I like this idea @James has but it seems like a novel but bandaid solution to a much deeper problem. I'd really like to see how it turns out though.
Additionally, I wonder how the cups will hold up after constant rotation. I personally think glass cups with lids (or just jars) would be cheaper and maybe more environmentally friendly.
@@evindrews Drinking hot coffee from a glass cup/jar would be incredibly uncomfortable. Fill a glass jar with boiling water and then see how long you can hold it for...
NoName AtAll If your coffee is done at the right temperature it shouldn't be a problem.
@@jackfranks7160 I use mason jars at home (because they came for free with my pasta sauce, and they're the "right" size for me so I might as well use them!) and yup, put your hand anywhere other than where the lid goes and it doesn't take long to burn your fingers. Double-walled glass jars are an option if you want glass, but then you have a two-sided issue of them being ever so expensive for decent ones, and even more fragile than regular glass mugs...
@@zoeyloco it'll still be pretty hot to hold, most glass reusable cups like the keepcup have a cork or plastic rim around for comfortable holding.
I love this idea! Another pet peeve of mine regarding reusable cups is that people would always bring gigantic cups and then proceed to ask for the smallest of drinks, but a program like this could definitely help take care of that!
Yes, I love this!
When traveling in Italy once (I'm from the states), I was struck by how the restaurants placed their empty glass water bottles out at the curb in crates to be picked up after hours. The supplier would drop off a new crate of full bottles in exchange and presumably go wash the empty bottles and refill them. No need to recycle when you can just wash and reuse!
One other possible solution is for coffee shops to incentivize drinking your coffee in the shop out of porcelain/ceramic cups. How, exactly, I'm not sure. But wasn't espresso espresso invented (or popularized) partially because of how quickly and easily it could be consumed in the cafe? In the states this is often completely ignored as an option and many cafes don't have any "to stay" cups available at all. Recently, I've taken to choosing my preferred cafes based on the glassware they offer. I personally do not enjoy the coffee drinking experience from a paper (or plastic, or rubber) cup unless it's absolutely necessary.
Noel Davis Starbucks and Blue Bottle already do this. They give a small discount.
Most real cafés in New York easily offer all of these options, unless it’s Starbucks or a coffee cart, then you would have the option to bring your own cup or use paper cups. The customary rule for bringing your own cup, is to bring in a clean one, or at least well-rinsed and hold onto the lid, otherwise they won’t accept it for obvious sanitary reasons.
I am seeing an increase in reusable cups over paper, along with the ban of plastic bags and removal of plastic straws. 🤗 Always a good move, especially in hugely populated cities.
_"...and many cafes don't have any "to stay" cups available at all."_ this makes me sad _and_ angry
_"I personally do not enjoy the coffee drinking experience from a paper (or plastic, or rubber) cup unless it's absolutely necessary."_ amen to that, but wait till you've 'enjoyed' a drink through a paper straw _eugch_
Brilliant idea this! Just shared with my local coffee house thanks 👌😊 was getting tired of their "Compostable" Cups
Thank you for making this video, simple as it may sound, what great insights!!
Love the concept! Saw Prufrock promoting it on their social media sites.
Brilliant idea. So simple. And it works.
As someone said before, The Coffee Collective has similar project - with bamboo cups I think. We just talked about this keep cup problem on our coffee podcast and this is a great way to solve it! I hope it's successful and customers will take it as their own.
That is exactly what a lot of cafès here in Germany do. There's a company called *Recup* that provides to-go cups to cafés and you can exchange them again at any café in Germany that's also partnered with Recup.
Hey James, I love this idea. Huskee Cup in Australia has been doing this with great success.You should take a look!
Fantastic! Hopefully it will catch on.
As someone deep into the world of tea and not so much coffee. A lot of the wisdom and innovation in coffee and cafés can carry over to tea and this system is a great idea I will definitely try my best to incorporate into the tea shop I hope to open soon
Yes, please. Do a lot more videos about consuming coffee sustainably and environmental friendly. Really appreciate it!
Fantastic idea! Definitely enjoy this type of content.
Great approach (as usual)
Awesome idea, absolutely love it
Very cool idea - cool cup, too.
this is a fabulous idea.
We have a similar system in the coffee bar at work. You buy a reusable (ceramic) to-go cup and can give it back and receive a clean cup. When you don't need your cup anymore, you can even get your money back.
Ceramic!? The buying aspect certainly serves as good insurance, but I know many people who would make short work of those cups, haha. As a responsible and non-clumsy person, I'd be a fan.
Brilliant plan!
Problem solved! You, Sir, are a genius!
I saw the old video this weekend and was really wondering what the solution could be. Thanks for delivering it :D
One is effectively buying stock in the establishment’s dishes. The café treats these keep cups as they would carafes, demitasse, spoons. The only difference is that you’ve added the right to take it off premises. Smart.
Really interesting idea. I wonder how this would fair at a high footfall coffee chain. I could imagine them being overwhelmed with dirty cups quite easily without upgrading their cleaning facilities. That extra cost would probably put them off. I could see it working much more with beautiques like you suggested.
Yes!! that's brilliant in its simplicity
Wow I love this idea!
James, I love this idea. Now to get other coffee houses on board to make it a movement.
Gr8 idea! I wouldn't dream of taking a dirty cup in to a cafe, but I have filled my Keep Cup with boiling water to keep it warm. Throw the water out when I go into the cafe. 👏🏻
That’s such a great simple idea!
Great idea!
That’s a brilliant idea!!
this is a really great idea!
We heave this system in Slovak and Czech republic for a while and it's working really good, in the next month we will have it in our city too :)
I like this idea! There used to be a tea place near where I live that did something very similar to this, but with glass bottles. But the drinks always came with a bottle, and bringing a bottle back yielded a 10% discount. I think the idea of buying the cup with the express purpose of reuse is better, though!
This is awesome!
An idea whose time has come 👏🏼👏🏼
Here in Invercargil NZ there's a cafe called Auction House that does exactly that. They don't sell the cups to you, but they let you use the sock once you establish yourself as a regular. Then you bring it in and it stays and gets cleaned and they use a fresh one. They've had a lot of success with it, to the point that their branded reusable cups are recognisable across town, even drawing comments. They don't even seem to lose many of them, despite the fact that they charge nothing for the service, so I think you've got a very good bet going with your program.
Brilliant, I hope to try this in a cafe of my own someday.
The coffee collective have done this in years! I haven't tried it myself but it sounds great
I love this idea
this is an amazing idea!!
There is a non-profit in the Montreal area (Canada) that helps cafés in this exact way by creating a network. You buy your drink at Café A with said reusable cup and can go to café B, C or D to drop off the dirty one & receive a new drink in a new clean cup.
Great Idea James! I was actually thinking about how much waste gets produced in just coffee cups alone in any major city on a day to day basis. Horrifying.
great idea
This! This is awesome!
This is already working in Germany, cups called the Good Cup, and now we are using this in Czech Republic as well. Not only this, but majority of specialty cafés use them, so you can bring them almost anywhere. You only pay a small deposit, which you get back, or you can simply keep it. The only downside is the material poly propylene, which is currently the best recyclable plastic materiel you can use while keeping the cost down. Anything made from paper or wood or some bio crap costs 10x more. so I'm happy with the way it works in Brno, Czech Republic.))
Good idea. Similar to branded festival beer cups.
Love this.
Amazing video
very good idea!
i do remember seeing ceramic versions of travel mugs, {they are quite nice, have one myself}
they are mostly given out as a freebie at conventions
Love this!
I have a bamboo re-use cup. I have recently learned that it is not quite as ecological as I had assumed (didn’t do my research) but here in Berlin, cafes gladly refill it. I just throw it in the dishwasher in the evening and it is clean in the morning. I‘ve had it over six years now so it has lasted longer than many coffee mugs and porcelain cups so there is that argument, I guess
I had begun a small espresso/coffee bar and we slowly got to the point where everyone would bring in a cup for exchange of a cup, we had all sorts and it was untidy but quaint and lovely, we charged a $5 AU flat rate to make coffee in a cup/mug that they could then take away, although it was funny the entire process was similar to this keep cup idea
Huskee cup is pushing for closed look systems where they are distributed. Pablo & Rusty’s are working on such a system in Sydney’s CBD from what I understand.
This is amazing
I like this idea. Almost a year later, how has this been working out?
That's a really good idea
Fantastic idea. I personally however like to try out different coffees each day so I usually only visit the same shop once every couple/few weeks.
I do however clean my cup and wouldn't expect a barista to do that for me, so I guess this isn't really aimed at me.
Great video James!
If you don’t mind to compare the most popular reusable cups such as keepcup, frank green, fressko, that’d be great :D
Fantastic idea. Think I heard about something similar in Germany too.
There is several companies doing it I think. In my city it's called recup and several cafés are using them. Only downside is the lid, which they don't take back, so you have to have one with you if you really want the full experience. Still a great system!
elumbella Having to own a lid is fair enough because lids have too many corners that a commercial dishwasher could not clean properly. I love ReCup system because they have same diameter for all cup volumes. Wish the UK do the same.
I think that's a great idea! I don't think it would fly at Starbucks, Timhortons or Second cup though and those are the places where more cups are filling the landfills. At the little shops maybe but I would prefer to sit and enjoy inside in a proper cup there
Nice idea
that is amazing 🙌🙌
brilliant
Hi James, I am Roddy and i own a smallish Coffee Business in Düsseldorf, Germany. We fully agree on your stand regarding reusable cups. That’s why we went a step further and developed a reusable cup system, together with a supplier and a handful of other coffee businesses in town. The customers love it for the convenience (as customer, you pay a 2€ deposit) and ease of use - and we love to see them everywhere around town. Any chance you can get more businesses in London engaged in a city wide system? Cheers, Roddy
The more you know: our local Starbucks tells me that whether it's in the recycle bin or the trash bin it all goes into trash. They have no way of splitting it up.
I do, and I live in the same city. Just to comment on the integrity of Starbucks in their store.
Nice solution. No drinking out of paper like a hobo and no waste.
Oooo great idea!! Love this concept. What material is that particular keepcup? I wonder if some people are worried about hygiene issues of bringing home a keepcup 10 other people have used?
In Montreal,.Canada there's a project going on with a similar idea but it's a 5$ cup and it's not limited to one cafe. There's a bunch of cafés participating and you can go to any participating cafe!
This is pretty brilliant! Just like the bottle returns of old, but maybe even a little better. It won't work for everyone, but it'll certainly serve a sizeable group very well. I'm really curious to know how this works out for Prufrock. Do you plan to do an update video?
I love how thoughtful you are about everything James, thanks for your work. I have a keep cup I never use. A plastic cup with a lid excludes one’s sense of smell, and why drink coffee then? If I can’t sit down to enjoy my coffee, I won’t have one. Cheers.
My Uni has a uni wide version of this, every uni ran cafe (i think theres like 18?) does this! Its a really good idea
This seems like a very good idea. Despite disliking Starbucks coffee, I do use their re-usable cups because they are affordable, very durable (I still have some from 2012 that I got in Seattle on a work trip), and if they get lost or permanently borrowed by someone (like a sister-in-law), you don't have to worry about it. I have never tried to bring one of my re-usable cups to a café when it was dirty, frankly I'm surprised that this is a thing people do. I do have more than 5 re-usable cups at any given time so that may make it easier to have a clean one handy. I'm a bit guilty of waste though, I generally only use my Starbucks cups for coffee that I make at home in my superautomatic espresso maker. When I go out for coffee, I often leave with a paper cup which will be thrown away after use. I could see myself participating in this program if it were offered at a few of the better independently owned cafés around town.
Sounds great! I am wondering how many reusable coffee cups you needed to buy to make this scheme work? What was the response like?
How's this going? I'd love to get a 2 month update on how this is working out and if you needed to make any changes.
Very good. Any suggestions for reusable roasted beans containers?
This is genius.
Fantastic idea and easily implemented but the only issue I have is how plastic can absorb odours and milk coffee can go pretty rancid over time. Does the cafe absorb that cost of a ruined keepcup?
So smart
Big coffee shops should do this too
Annnnnnnnnnnnnd it gives people incentive to keep coming back to _your_ business. ;)
I think it's a great idea, as it helps reduce the usage of paper cups while promoting a better alternative.. And it also has the benefit of the coffee being drinkable for longer as I'd suspect those KeepCups are at least somewhat better insulated than a paper cup is. Does it require money up front to trial? Yup. Does it carry risks? Somewhat. Is it worth not having baristas that want to strangle the person for bringing in a dirty reusable cup, doubly so in the middle of a rush? Oh hells yes.
Cafés doing this kind of thing would actually get me to buy into such a program, and I suspect get me in the door more often (only reason my local-ish café doesn't see myself and hubby as often is, uhm... Well, right now it's negative stupidly cold winter (-20C), and they close less than an hour after I get to work, which makes it difficult to time that half hour walk there and still make it before they close. There have been rumours they'll be trialling later hours again soon though, since they got a LOT of extra business during the December holiday season due to being open an hour and a half later.
As for looking at the cost side of things... Well yes, a case of 1000 paper cups is probably going to be cheaper than a case of KeepCups, but with a program like what you're trialling paper cups get cut down by a decent amount once the program takes over, people get to enjoy their beverage for longer (before it gets cold, assuming it's slowly sipped), and there's also the benefit that once a certain threshold is reached the cost of the KeepCups winds up leaning more towards that of just replacing ones that are old, beaten up, and/or broken, which is a slow trickle when compared to the initial investment. Plus there's that whole actually working towards the problem posed by paper cups by doing this.
A few places down here in South Africa do the same thing.
Nice, this can work for delivery service too!
Actually makes more sense when you deliver coffee!