Some cafes in Berkeley will soon begin loaning coffee mugs to customers in a city program aimed at reducing waste.
Three coffee shops — Caffe Strada on College Avenue and the Free Speech Cafe and Cafe Moffitt on the UC Berkeley campus — will soon be the locations where the pilot program gets off the ground.
Berkeley City Councilmember Sophie Hahn says they are partnering with Vessel, a reusable stainless steel cup service to operate the program. She describes the cups as durable and easy to clean.
"It's very simple: you check out a cup, you scan a code, you return the cup to any participating cafes, and you're done," she said. "It's free to you."
It's free as long as you return the cup within five days, otherwise borrowers get slapped with a fine. When dirty cups are returned, they are picked up by a bicycle messenger, sanitized and then brought back to the businesses.
All of this is part of Berkeley's new Single Use Foodware and Litter Reduction Ordinance, which launched in March to phase out straws, napkins and other plastic utensils.
"I think this is the wave of the future," Hahn said. "We all know that the challenges ahead of us are going to require us to be nimble and to try new things and that's what we're doing in Berkeley."
The coffee cup pilot program is slated to begin in September.
