At the behest of the Sunnyvale City Council, government employees are trying to eliminate single-use plastics throughout the city. One of the easiest ways to achieve that goal is by incentivizing businesses to eliminate plastic forks, knives, spoons, cups and plates for dine-in customers.
But one Sunnyvale cafe has taken it a step further by trying to eliminate take-out cups too.
Bambu Desserts & Drinks, 189 W. Washington Ave., serves boba milk tea, Vietnamese Che, coffee and smoothies. Small grants through the city have allowed the business to partner with Okapi Reusables, allowing customers to check out a cup and return it later.
The Mountain View-based company provides businesses reusable cups. Then, through its app, customers order a beverage and get a reusable cup that they then return to the cafe within two weeks. Okapi Reusables has 12 locations throughout the Peninsula and many more in the Portland area, but Bambu Desserts & Drinks is the first in Sunnyvale.
Bailey Hall, environmental programs specialist for Sunnyvale, called the program “cutting-edge,” adding that it is a “revolutionary idea that just makes sense.” Sunnyvale would like to see more businesses like Okapi Reusables offer reusable cups to-go, she added.
“Sunnyvale is extremely interested in reducing our single-use plastics, especially in food ware,” Hall said. “It is such an easy thing to do … [programs like Okapi Reusuables are] such an innovative and exciting way to create a reusable cup with zero waste.”
A city consultant knew about Okapi Reusables. So, city employees asked businesses participating in the single-use-reduction program to partner with Okapi Reusables. Through its program, the city paid eight months of subscription fees for Bambu Desserts & Drinks.
The grant program is designed to act like training wheels for businesses. Its goal is to make shifting from single-use plastics to more environmentally friendly options easy.
“It can be hard for businesses to change their operations,” Hall said. “We need to normalize reusables … reusables to-go is still new.”
Users pay a one-time $10 subscription fee to Okapi Reusables. Failing to return a cup results in a $15 fee.
Emily Cheuh, co-founder of Okapi Reusables, said the businesses that have a high volume of regulars benefit most from such programs. The goal, she said, is to make the change as easy as possible, echoing Hall’s comments about the difficulty in changing behavior.
Cheuh was involved in Mountain View’s environmental task force, ironing out how to put the city’s climate action plan into practice. That experience shaped her approach to the business.
“As I learned more about plastic pollution, the more it opened my eyes as to how huge that problem is,” Cheuh said. “Any intervention, any kind of sustainability with small businesses is kind of door-to-door … it is something that will continue to need government support.”
Oanh Ho, owner of Bambu Desserts & Drinks, said a majority of her customers are still using disposable cups. Only two or three customers regularly use the reusable cups, she said. She guessed that the subscription cost and the extra work for customers to return the cups is preventing the app from becoming more popular.
Adding to Cheuh’s assessment that such programs need government support, Ho said if the city weren’t paying for the subscription, she likely wouldn’t continue using Okapi Reusables unless reusable to-go cups catch on. Although Ho enrolled to be environmentally conscious, if it were cost prohibitive, she said she couldn’t afford to pay for something that so few people use.
“I like the idea of reusable cups,” Ho said. “In order to make this more popular, it needs support … right now, it is just a nice-to-have.”
For more information on Sunnyvale’s grant program, email Recycling@sunnyvale.ca.gov. To enroll with Okapi Reusables, contact them here.
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