Celebrating our humble morning ritual of coffee + toast with a Zero-Waste event

With pop-up events becoming ever more prolific, Ecoware is setting the stage with plant-based packaging alternatives that make diverting landfill waste an easy reality.

‘Popped Culture’ is Coffee Supreme’s way of celebrating the humble practice of ‘coffee and toast’. A morning ritual for many Kiwis, and individuals the world over for that matter, the celebrated coffee brand has taken to hosting pop-up events helmed by some of Auckland’s most notable chefs who take the ‘toast’ aspect to a whole new level.

So it goes that venues like the top level of Newton’s SKHY Apartment building construction site, IMO group’s beautiful showroom and warehouse, and Grey Lynn vintage furniture store, The Vitrine, have — over the past year — been temporarily transformed into pop-up breakfast locations. These sporadic morning affairs see around 750 people gather over three days to toast to, well… gourmet toast, prepared by the likes of Orphans Kitchen’s Tom Hishon, Welcome Eatery’s Ralph Jenner, and Al Brown prodigy, Hayden Scott. Of course, it goes without saying that all this is washed down by an ample supply of Coffee Supreme’s superior cup of joe.

The first event saw the lauded Hishon preparing his favourite toppings on organic seeded Were Brothers sourdough while Scott, who has long been involved in Al’s ventures including Depot and Best Ugly Bagels (and is, therefore, a man who knows how to put on a decent breakfast spread), satisfied punters with both a sweet and a savoury edition. The former being a variation of the classic mince on toast instead with mutton mince, smoked sour cream and wasabi peas, and the latter a slice of sourdough fruit loaf with ‘golden cheesecake whip’, cherry, and pecan cereal clusters.

Aside from the obvious gastronomic appeal, there is one other thing that those attending have in common; a consciousness for the environment and the desire to participate an event that is striving to improve waste strategies (thus reducing the amount of rubbish that would otherwise end up in the landfill). Which is exactly what Popped Culture has become. Having recently switched to a commercially compostable EcoCup, Coffee Supreme has been able to focus on creating a memorable event that, environmentally speaking, doesn’t come at a high price, nor does it sacrifice how the brand is received by the end user. With today’s compostable packaging having developed to meet market and brand standards, Coffee Supreme can now tick the sustainability box without compromising on their brand standards. 

By making this simple transition to the commercially compostable EcoCup, Coffee Supreme inherently began laying the framework for a ‘zero-waste’ event. Combined with Coffee Supreme’s desire to reduce nonenvironmentally friendly waste that would eventually end up in our precious backyard, Popped Culture was well on its way to becoming an entirely eco-friendly affair. By further opting to use a sustainable calibre of serving items such as clear EcoCups for Antipodes water, commercially compostable serving plates, napkins, knives and forks, etc, all the pre-emptive work was done. When complemented with a waste collection service providers, We Compost, to implement a three-bin system (general waste, recycling, compost/organics), the result was an event that efficiently minimised the amount of waste that would end up in the landfill. All that was needed was a little management in the way used items were disposed of. 

Through clear signage found at the bins (in some instances, with the help of staff), consumers were able to dispose of their products correctly. Compostables were sent to the compost facility to be composted, recyclables to be recycled and the very few pieces that were either not be composted/ or recycled sadly went to the landfill. Fair to say, this systematic rubbish system was equally as important as the authenticity of the compostable packaging itself. By creating an environment that used sustainable packaging products and then provided the suitable means of disposing of them, there was relatively little waste left at all.

In fact, in the wake of over 750 people who attended Popped Culture’s third instalment, a total of 415kg of overall waste was collected. Via the effective three-bin system, and of course thanks to the sustainable nature of Ecoware’s products, the following was able to be diverted from landfill: 200kg of compostable packaging and organics and 170kg of recyclable material. This means that from almost half a tonne of overall rubbish, a meagre 45kg of general waste ended up being inorganically disposed of.

Local events are often marred by the amount of damage they do to our environment, yet Popped Culture’s collaboration with Ecoware is a stellar example of how future events ought to be run. With an ever-increasing demand for packaging and service products that don’t clog up our already oversubscribed landfills and which can instead be recycled, or even better, composted, there is an equal demand for how to facilitate going about this. Furthermore, by switching to Ecoware’s compostable packaging, Coffee Supreme was able to fully adhere to their brand expectations and guidelines without sacrificing functionality and style; two aspects that have so far proven challenging for companies wishing to implement eco-friendly initiatives. 

By providing not only the goods, but also the support service necessary to minimise net inorganic and non-recyclable rubbish, Ecoware is helping the plight for ‘zero-waste’ events become a readily accessible reality.