Compostable take away items
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There is a new cafe in town making a stamp in minimising the takeaway waste culture with compostable items that would usually become landfill.
Pukka Health uses utensils, coffee cups, straws and more that are all compostable, which means customers can put the take away items in their compost heaps in the backyard.
The eco-friendly items are made of sugar cane and corn starch and are a convenient alternative to disposable packaging.
Cafe owner Bree Manthorpe opened Pukka Health this week and said the response from customers about the use of compostable packaging has been incredible.
“All our take away containers are compostable and all our spoons are made out of sugar so they just break down.”
She said using compostable materials in the shop was a great way to share their passion for minimising waste with new customers.
“It’s so good telling people too just to make them stop and see,” Ms Manthorpe said.
She said the cafe was a great way of promoting the ‘coolness’ of composting, recycling and really thinking about how everyone could minimise waste around them.
She said she wanted to encourage customers to join the keep cup trend as well.
“We want to get people more into bringing their own coffee cups,” she said.
The cafe has made the most of minimising waste in other areas throughout the cafe including bottling juice and having a rebate for customers to bring the bottle back for a discount.
All of the furniture inside the cafe was bought second hand and they are looking at reusing old wood to create furniture for the alleyway seating outside.
“We’ve outsourced everything, even down to our coffee cups in house,” she said.
“If we can just keep being aware of minimising waste, then we’re making a difference,” she said.
She said the business did what it could to recycle and ensure almost nothing went into the waste bin.
“We recycle everything we can and all our scraps go either to compost or to our chooks.”
“All our coffee beans go straight to the garden and we are forever thinking of new ideas,” she said.
Ms Manthorpe said education on waste was vital to local communities thriving.
“Education is key, it’s also about spreading the word.”
She said there was always more to learn in tackling the waste battle and the business would never stop researching and trialling new ways to look after the local environment.
“We’re open to always learning new things too,” Ms Manthorpe said.