Perth cafés can avoid sending their takeaway coffee cups to landfill with the launch of BioPak’s national composting service.
Under the service, customers will be able to dispose of used BioPak coffee cups and compostable takeaway food packaging in specially designed collection bins placed at local cafés or workplaces in Western Australia.
The special compost bins will be collected weekly and sent them to commercial facilities to be composted. In eight weeks, the biodegradable products will be turned into nutritious soil compost for gardens or farms.
BioPak Founder Richard Fine said the aim of the service was to ensure that the environmental benefit of compostable, single use disposable packaging could be maximised.
“In Australia, we send more than 8 million tonnes of organic waste to landfill every year, including 1.5 million tonnes of food waste,” says Richard.
“The problem with this is that when food waste decomposes in landfills, it releases methane, which is a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon-dioxide, resulting in enormous damage to our environment.”
Richard says switching to compostable food service packaging, including compostable coffee cups, can divert much of this material from going to landfill.
In just eight weeks, the compost will be turned into nutritious soil for gardens and farms.
One of the first cafés in Perth to sign up for the service is Yelo in Trigg, Mount Hawthorn and Subiaco. Owner Mike Pond says this new service will allow patrons the convenience of disposable coffee cups while doing the right thing by the environment.
“This is a fantastic initiative, which we believe will help divert potentially tonnes of waste away from landfills and turned into composting that can be used for agriculture – at no cost to our customers,” says Mike. “In fact, the composting service will save us more than 20 per cent a year in waste bills.
“The reaction from our customers has been fantastic so far.”
BioPak is an Australia owned environmentally responsible packaging company.
For more information, visit www.biopak.com.au