Reusable cup scheme officially launched across Bristol

If you have recently visited Little Victories or Mokoko in Wapping Wharf, Alex Does Coffee in the Paintworks, Five Acre Farm Shop on North Street or Hart’s Bakery next to Temple Meads, you might have spotted the trial of a new scheme that hopes to reduce disposable waste one coffee cup at a time.

Anyone can download the CanCan app, which then creates a unique QR code that is scanned by the barista in a cafe before they make your coffee in a reusable cup.

Once you have finished your drink, you return the cup and lid to the cafe where you got it, or to another business that is part of the scheme, where they will be washed and then put back into circulation.

CanCan’s co-founders estimate that each cup can be washed and reused more than 100 times, therefore potentially saving 100 disposable cups from going to landfill.

After a successful trail period, the scheme is set to officially launch on Wednesday at Blue Earth Summit, a two-day event in Bristol showcasing the best and latest in sustainability.

CanCan co-founders Jim Pizer (left) and Dan Wright (right) outside Alex Does Coffee in the Paintworks – photo: Martin Booth

For CanCan co-founder Jim Pizer, the launch of the smart tech is a logical next step in his sustainability journey which began when he founded Thali Cafe and introduced tiffins to Bristol.

“The tiffin scheme was a very basic scheme, it never branched out beyond the Thali and it was a solution for that type of food,” Pizer told Bristol24/7.

“With CanCan, we wanted a solution that would work across a variety of products and environments.”

CanCan’s other co-founder is Dan Wright, owner of Paintworks-based Phineas Group, which specialises in the design, manufacture and supply of footwear hangers for shops.

Wright said that CanCan’s first five traders using the scheme “symbolise the coffee community in Bristol”.

“We have proved the system works. What we have to do now is to to prove that the business model is financially doable and achievable.”

And Bristol is just the beginning. “If we can make it work here, we can showcase it as a national scheme,” said Pizer.

It is estimated that every day in Bristol, 66,500 disposable coffee cups are used with only one in every 400 getting recycled.

CanCan says that it “helps coffee shop customers to make more sustainable choices in a way that is free to use, easy and intuitive and neatly fits into their current daily routines”.

The company’s vision is to move from coffee cups into other shareable items that cost less than £10 to buy, which could include shopping bags and takeaway food containers.

As well as being designed to benefit high street retailers such as coffee shops, bars and bakeries, Pizer and Wright have ambitions of being able to offer corporate solutions to offices, festivals and stadiums.

Main photo: Martin Booth

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