Page 23 - Tropic Magazine Issue 27

TROPIC • ENVIRONMENT

1. Cafe Yorkeys
2. Green Caffeen cups

1

Eco-conscious customers will also find locally-sourced
sugarcane packaging, paper trays,
coffee and boxed (not bottled) water. Tim’s
Mareeba-grown mango smoothies can
even be purchased with a reusable One
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS Straw; whose proceeds fund beach and
Cafe Yorkeys pushes waterway clean-ups across the country.
the potential of plastic-free “The plastic free alternatives are a little
bit dearer but we’re happy to absorb that
alternatives. initial start-up cost, and hopefully once
more people are on board it will become a
Words: Annabel Bowles bit cheaper,” Tim said.
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Bamboo straws and beeswax wraps are
no longer niche millennial novelties, at Swap your cup here
least according to Federal MP Warren Scan, swap, drink & return
Entsch. When the Member for Leichhardt Tim’s taken the hit to the
called Tropic HQ to sing the praises of a bottom line initially, but your Caffeen cup at these
local eco-friendly enterprise, we thought TNQ cafes:
we’d better take notice. he’s going to be head and
As it turns out, Cafe Yorkeys isn’t just shoulders above many Port Douglas
known for a good cup o’ Joe. While many Whileaway Bookshop & Cafe
cafes have struggled to stay open amid others in the end
COVID-19, owner Tim Morehead has Warren Entsch Kuranda
been busy transitioning his business to a Member for Sprout Juice & Coffee Bar
plastic-free zone. Leichhardt
He recently joined Green Caffeen, a Cairns
network of over 500 Australian cafes As Special Envoy for the Great Barrier
supplying reusable and returnable Reef, MP Entsch believes Cafe Yorkeys Cafe Yorkeys
coffee cups. Like a library system for has been a “sensational” leader in District
coffee-lovers, customers can pick up adopting plastic-free solutions to protect The Palms
a free Green Caffeen cup at Yorkeys, the environment.
take it home, and later return it to any “It’s interesting how small businesses, Silk Cafe
participating bean-brewer within 30 who can least afford sustainable Blackbird Laneway
days. Tim and other eco-conscious cafe alternatives, are the ones that are leading Blackbird Warehouse
operators then wash and sanitise each the charge,” he said. “Tim’s taken the hit
cup before passing it onto the next Green to the bottom line initially, but he’s going Cairns Courtyard Cafe
Caffeen sipper. to be head and shoulders above many White Whale Coffee Roasters
“We have about 40 cups on rotation, and others in the end. Providore Amore
a few people have actually chosen to come “It’s not that we don’t know the AQUA Lagoon Cairns
to Yorkeys because they can swap their ramifications of plastic, we do. It’s not
cup over here,” he said. “Living on the that we don’t have the science, we do. The Healthy Hub
coast you see a lot of people wanting to The one thing we’re lacking is the will Thursday Island
cut down on waste as much as possible, to make the change, and it seems to be
to keep our beaches clean.” small businesses and individuals like Tim Ma Kai Cafe
For these reasons, Cafe Yorkeys’ leading the change.”

23 • tropicnow.com.au