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Despite the best efforts of the government, the private sector, and everyday folks, the push to reduce plastic waste by bringing your own reusable eco-friendly cup has had limited effect. Is there a way to tackle the problem at its roots? Some Taiwanese businesses have begun offering “reusable cups for rent.” The goal is to reduce waste, limit pollution, and make life more convenient for consumers in one fell swoop.

Take out your coffee in a reusable rented cup. You don’t need to bring or wash your own. (Source: Recup)

In Europe, renting a reusable cup for your beverage is most common in Germany. It’s not a new practice, and in many cities, spending a little more to rent a cup when you buy a beverage is already the norm.

Currently, the most popular and widespread platform is the brand “Recup.” Founded in 2016, it works with over 1,100 stores in Germany. It’s so common you could rent from one shop, take your drink with you, and then return the cup at a different location.

Renting Cups is Fashionable

Customers use the Recup app to find locations in their vicinity where they can rent cups, whether it’s a café, bakery, or shop. A one-euro deposit is all that’s needed to take away your beverage in an eco-friendly container. Once you’re done refreshing yourself, the cup can be returned to any other shop that’s a member of the Recup platform to get your deposit back. You don’t even need to wash; they’ll handle that for you. Consumers who use rental cups not only reduce waste and protect the environment, they also benefit from discounts.

Besides Recup, the industrial metropolis of Hannover has its own “Hannoccino” cup. The deposit is two euros, and there are more than 140 coffee shops that offer this service. You don’t need to download an app to use Hannoccino; the QR code printed on the cup tells you the nearest place you can return the reusable container.

Freiburg in southwest Germany offers “FreiburgCup” : the deposit is one euro, and there are over 100 cafes, bakeries, and buffet restaurants that use FreiburgCup.

Recently, many stores in Taiwan are also trying to import the concept of renting out reusable eco-friendly cups.

Teaching Taiwan to Rent a Cup

Inside the busy Taipei City Hall, there’s a branch of Louisa Coffee unlike any other. This coffee shop doesn’t provide single-use cups. When you buy a cup of joe, you either drink inside the store, use your own eco-friendly cup, or pay a 100-Taiwan-dollar deposit to rent a cup. By cutting off the supply of single-use containers, this Louisa Coffee shop is trying to change the consumers’ mindset and eliminate the problem of waste and pollution.

These rental glass containers look classy and they protect the earth. It all starts from one environmentally conscious coffee shop. (Source: Taiwan Circular Economy Network)

In a quiet alley on Yumen Rd. (玉門路) in Taichung, there is an eco-friendly, environmentally conscious, Fair Trade-supporting self-owned coffee shop called the 3 Plus 1 Café (山佳伊3+1 Café). Founded in 2015, it provides a reusable glass container for a 50-Taiwan-dollar deposit if you order coffee on the go. The owner explains the deposit costs more than the actual price of the glass, so they’re not worried customers would fail to return the container. They also trust people who rent the container to reuse it frequently.

Besides standalone examples such as Louisa Coffee in Taipei City Hall and the 3 Plus 1 Café in Taichung, some office buildings are trying to encourage every shop in the building to adopt this best practice. Taipei 101 plans to start with every Seven-Eleven and Starbucks in the skyscraper. Laptop giant Acer Inc. also plans to do this in their headquarters in Xizhi.

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On campuses across the nation, students are proposing solutions to the garbage problem caused by single-use containers. The Department of Ecological Humanities at Providence University (靜宜大學生態人文學系) has launched the “Green Cup Initiative” (綠杯子計畫), which provides glass containers for rent in an effort to reduce plastic waste.

During the 90th school anniversary celebration in November 2018, the National Taiwan University Student Association Department of Sustainability (台灣大學學生會永續部) announced they are working with eco-friendly container rental platform Chingpiao (青瓢) to launch the “Eco-friendly Cup Rental System” (環保杯租借計畫). The plan is to work with campus stores to promote reusable cups all over the university.

Through its eco-friendly cup rental system, Chingpiao has eliminated the potential waste of tens of thousands of single-use cups. (Source: Chingpiao 青瓢)

Chingpiao is a Taiwanese start-up company. It provides eco-friendly cup rental services for fairs, night markets, marathons, and events of all kinds. This reduces the amount of single-use disposable cups used in such events and eliminates the problem of such events leaving behind mountains of trash.

Chingpiao offers polypropylene cups which are non-toxic and resistant to heat, and it works with professional cleaning services to protect the user’s health. Event organizers pay rental fees and a deposit to acquire the cups they need. In this way, they protect the earth and avoid the trouble of cleaning up heaps of garbage.

On Zhengxing Street (正興街) in Tainan, the social enterprise “Good to Go” (好盒器) has initiated the “Zhengxing Cup Plan” (正興杯杯計畫). They are working with like-minded shops in Tainan to promote a glass container rental system. Their services extend from Zhengxing Street to Shennong Street (神農街), which is 400 meters away; this is a popular hub of restaurants and tourism in Tainan. Tourists can easily rent and return cups in multiple stores. This adds the benefit of environmental education to the usual sightseeing tour. As of December 2018, the “Zhengxing Cup Plan” has prevented the use of more than 26,000 single-use containers.

Consumers may worry there are health risks associated with renting reusable eco-friendly cups. But this is no different from eating at a food court, cafeteria, or any ordinary restaurant where the utensils are reused. Cup rental systems just take the concept to the next level. So long as stores and cleaning companies look after the quality, and conduct routine health inspections and publish their findings, consumers can rest easy knowing they are protecting the planet with no additional risk to themselves.

Nor Law, Nor Policy, Nor Private Man: All Must Join the Good Fight

These past couple of years, the Taiwanese government has acted decisively in their response to the plastic waste crisis. They’ve regulated the production of microbeads and enacted a series of policies aimed at reducing plastic use. In February 2018, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) announced expanded measures restricting plastic use. Certain restaurants are prohibited from providing disposable utensils to customers eating inside the restaurant; nor are they allowed to provide free plastic bags for takeaways. By 2030, a complete ban will be put in place on all plastic products. (Read: Declaring War Against Plastic Straws)

However, the secret to solving the problem of waste and pollution caused by single-use plastics lies not in a single unilateral law. The government must educate and incentivize businesses and communicate with the general populace. Enterprises need to change their way of thinking and business model. A bottom-up, grass roots approach must be undertaken by private citizens. The public and private sectors must come together, because their efforts will fail without each other’s support.

For example, the New Taipei City Government recently launched the “Say No to Plastic Bags” campaign (新北市不塑之客系列活動). They eagerly recruit plastic-free businesses (不塑友善店家) to sign up and provide a map of such locations to environmentally conscious consumers. In November 2018, they held the “Plastic-free Marathon” (不塑路跑) in Jinshan District on the north coast. They used the eco-friendly “New Taipei Ucup” (新北Ucup) and estimated they would prevent the waste of ten thousand single-use cups.

The Taipei and Kaohsiung City Governments have also pitched in to reduce plastic waste at marathons, which are hugely popular in Taiwan. In May 2018, Taipei City Hall signed a “Green and Sustainable Taipei Marathon” Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Greenpeace East Asia, becoming the first city to pledge itself to reducing plastic use at marathons.

During the Taipei Marathon in December of the same year, the marathon handbook and certificate of completion were delivered in a paperless, online format. Bottled water was also banned. This marathon also introduced the concept of the “eco-runner” (環保跑者). Participants were encouraged to pass on collecting their commemorative jersey and to bring their own bottle. The Kaohsiung Marathon adopted a similar approach to reduce unnecessary waste. (Read: Taiwan’s Marathon Tourism)

In addition to large-scale events, Taipei, New Taipei, and Taichung City Governments are all trying to promote a city-wide eco-friendly cup rental system. They want to help citizens realize the ideal of going completely “plastic-free” in their daily lives.

For the past few months, Taipei City Hall has been working with the private sector to design a set of reusable rental cups that can be part of a complete service that includes purchasing, carrying, using, and returning eco-friendly containers. The idea is to give consumers the chance to choose a reusable cup over a single-use cup. Suitable economic incentives can be leveraged to effectively reduce waste, such as a reward point collection system for people who rent or use their own cups; discounts, coupons, and gifts; or money added into their EasyCards or iPass cards.

Lu Shih-chang (盧世昌), the deputy commissioner of Taipei's Department of Environmental Protection, says a cup rental system requires a certain economy of scale before it can become viable. If they can recruit over a hundred businesses to sign up, the Department of Environmental Protection will designate a budget to help cover related costs.

Let “Reusable Over Single-use” Become Your Daily Habit

Every time you buy, you are making a choice. All of us are capable of promoting change. An individual’s power may be insignificant, but the world is made up of countless seemingly insignificant individual choices. Change your purchasing habits and do your part to protect our home. If the public and private sectors can work together, the concept of an eco-friendly cup rental system may reach maturity and fruition in Taiwan.

Translated by Jack C.

Edited by Sharon Tseng

About Taiwan Circular Economy Network

Taiwan Circular Economy Network is the first non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the circular economy in Taiwan. It was established in 2015 by Charles Huang, founder of the Taiwan Composting Association, author of the first book in Taiwan on the topic, “Circular Economy” (循環經濟), published in 2017. The Network aims to ensure that circular economic thinking is integrated into key national economic development policies, to create a favourable environment for the development of a circular economy.