A Taste of Ethiopia, A Sip of Sustainability: Another week of the Reuse Pilot at the Queen Victoria Market
Meet Tilanesh, she is the owner of Eat Enjera and she was already a champion of reuse cups before we joined forces. Her small and distinct Ethiopean Sini cups are commonly seen floating around the upper F sheds at the Queen Victoria Market as customers devour her delicious coffee.
But for tea, Tilanesh wanted to stray from paper cups, opting to use B-Alternative’s reusable cups instead. She says that customers are usually vocal about their dislike for paper cups as they break down during their short life span of use. A problem that the cups in the reusable pilot solve.
In the early days of this trial, Tilanesh was disappointed to resort to her previous single use plates and bowls to meet a rush demand of her service one busy Saturday. However, the community that comes with the pilot offered a space where these issues could be talked about and resolved.
The Reuse Pilot seeks to collect the thoughts, opinions, data and learnings to inform the potential uptake of this circular system in other markets, food halls and high waste areas in Melbourne. Tilanesh is the perfect example that vendors are ready to embrace the pilot to reduce waste at the market but can only do so if the system and processes are there to support her.
The Reuse pilot has now saved 16,976 dishes in the 23 market days that the pilot has been running.
The Reuse Pilot is a part of the new Queen Victoria Market Circular Economy Precinct. Led by STREAT in collaboration with B-Alternative and supported by the City of Melbourne.