Portland Cafes Enrolling in Reusable Cup Network, Reducing Waste

Portland, Ore. cafes are taking action to cut down the use of disposable cup waste through a reusable cup network which will allow customers to borrow cups through a mobile app.

According to Deb Gray, the founder of Okapi Reusables, the Portland metro area uses roughly one million disposable cups each week. Okapi Reusables is now providing cups to cafes that participate.

Portland metro locations now joins the San Francisco Bay area as part of the Okapi Reusables network, with plans to expand to Washington state, totaling roughly 40 cafes in the program.

“We have a lot of people that really want to do the right thing but it’s inconvenient,” Sarah Witter, owner of Fetch Coffee Roasters, a Portland café, said. “So, this offers an alternative where they don’t have to remember, they can just borrow right there, and it tastes so much nicer and stays nice and hot.”

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