New Year's Resolution – BYO coffee cup

An astounding 500 million disposable cups are used in Australia each year. Most end up in landfill, where they can take up to 50 years to break down. Make a New Year's Resolution to take your own mug to your favourite café each morning when you fill up.

The Watershed Sustainability Resource Centre in Newtown recently launched a Coffee Cups Project to tackle this problem head-on.

The project encouraged coffee-drinkers to take a reusable cup to their local café. Customers are given loyalty cards, which are stamped each time they bring their own cup for their takeaway coffee and could win a free travel mug from The Watershed once they have collected ten stamps.

The Watershed is a joint initiative between Marrickville Council and the City of Sydney and was first established as a project funded under the NSW Government’s Stormwater Trust in 2002. It is highly regarded for its sustainable living programs and workshops and in 2008 was named the Overall Winner in the Environmental Education Award for Outstanding Environmental Education from the NSW Local Government and Shires Associations. And in 2007-08, University of NSW research found The Watershed workshops act as a springboard to change, which resulted in 96 per cent of attendees reducing their ecological footprint in the home.

The Watershed is located at 218 King Street, Newtown. It is open from 10am – 4pm Tuesday to Saturday.