Since starting this blog and surrounding myself with an online community of inspiring and like-minded people, I stumbled on Use Your Own Cup (UYOC) www.uyoc.co.nz – a mobile friendly webpage that lets you search for cafes under a variety of criteria.
This is a great tool not only for those trying their best to reduce their environmental impact, but also for anyone with special requirements like being vegan or gluten free. It’s even perfect for someone that just wants to know where they can take their four legged friend along on their weekend brunch date. Check out these awesome categories that you can add to your search criteria along with a suburb, as well as just asking the guide to search “cafes near me”.
In my blog post about sustainable road trips, I lamented that you couldn’t just fill your own bottle up while you were on the road. I’d always felt somewhat forced to buy a new bottle of water if mine ran out, so now knowing that I can in fact just ask for a refill at any of these awesome cafes makes me feel just a little bit liberated! A friend and I recently filled up at Green Time in Auckland CBD who I must say do some AMAZING vegan meals – it’s well worth checking out if you’re in the city any time soon.
Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash
Apparently kiwis use (and obviously dispose of) 295 million takeaway cups a year. Plastic bottles produce 1.5 million tons of plastic waste globally per year. So every one of these cafes that support and encourage refilling your own water bottle and reusing your own takeaway coffee cup are heroes in my book!
On top of UYOC helping us, the everyday consumer, by making it easier to find great cafes to support, they also help the planet and its people by donating their profits to charities and not-for-profits that align with their values! Check out more about this on the charities page of their website – they are truly inspiring <3
