Café Coffee Mug Share.
I came across a news story which completely captured the idea of power within a community. Something I’ve been thinking about recently, the story brings together this with the current hot topic of plastic and a personal favourite of mine – coffee!
I love the idea of drinking my takeaway coffee from a ‘proper’ mug or maybe a china cup for tea. There’s something really comforting, refined and, well, simple in taking an ordinary mug for a stroll. Of course that’s not the point, it saves using plastic (both one-use and reusable) and that can only be positive. The idea of people donating their unwanted china and porcelain further strengthens the root philosophy of reuse, reduce, recycle.
Have you ever donated an item to a local charity shop and wondered who it’s new owner might be? Charity shops tend to rotate stock around their shops in different towns, so the chance of you meeting the person who bought your hat is probably fairly slim. However, a coffee mug drop is likely to operate a far smaller catchment so the chances of sitting next to your pre-owned mug at the bus stop are far greater. In a society where we hear a lot about loneliness and dependency on technology to socialise, what a great conversation starter- ‘that was my mug…’.
What about spills? ! Think a universal lid needs inventing here…not out of plastic though…obvs.
X
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Thanks for your comment Jenny, I was thinking the same thing. I thought I might be able to contact the café to see how they are approaching this…will keep you posted!
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It was a pleasure to chat briefly with La Tour Cycle Café yesterday. I was able to hear how the mug share scheme has been received first hand and raise the question of spillages!
The news story has been viewed 154 thousand times, an incredible figure – here’s hoping people get inspired! The interesting thing that came from discussing spillages was that in actual fact, customers have been saying that the mug share scheme has encouraged them to sit and enjoy as opposed to rush. With a quiet position on the waterfront, what better excuse to slow down and take a breather- this also helps keep those spillages at bay!
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This is a novel idea! It is so wonderful to see businesses such as this coffee shop putting the environment first before profit because needless to say, there must be some loss of revenue for those who are in a rush and do not want to risk spillage. I am in the habit of collecting mugs through means of thrifting but I would be happy to share it with my community if something like this was implemented in my locality.
Once I purchased a sweater from a consignment shop and I carried it in a clear bag as I continued my shopping that day. A block down, I went into a boutique and the girl working at the counter immediately recognized her sweater in my bag and mentioned she had consigned it the previous week! I promised her I would take good care of it but it was a nice coincidence 🙂
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Hello vennilamaran,
Thanks for your comments, it’s great that you support the idea. It would be so good to see cafes adopting similar approaches over time. Thanks also for your sweater story, things like that always remind me about 6 degrees of separation and the excellent benefits of striking up conversations over anything with anyone!
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