Artisan Market goes clink for climate

This weekend’s Artisan Market will be a gleaming re-useable cup and glass affair thanks to the all-new Mobile Mug Library.
The freshly refitted mobile kitchen and washing station, brainchild of Bellingen’s CoffeeForClimate alliance, will make its debut at the Showground on Saturday.
“We’re hoping to make this Artisan Market an entirely re-useable affair,” market coordinator Paul Nebauer said.
“As part of our mission to promote locally produced food, handcrafts and art, we welcome this wonderful local initiative to reduce our use of disposable cups and glasses
“We would love to be a 100 per cent reuseable event and ask patrons to please bring their own picnic sets and cups where possible, and use the re-useable cups and glasses provided by CoffeeForClimate if they forget their own.”
The Mobile Mug Library started as a thought bubble voiced at a meeting of the CoffeeForClimate Alliance several months ago when discussing the problem of disposable coffee/drink cups at community events, local markets and festivals: “a mobile dish-washer is just what Bellingen needs”.
Enter environmental activist Frydryka Michna and her former hot-dog trailer now professional kitchen/dishwashing facility, who has joined forces with the CoffeeForClimate Alliance to produce a gleaming Mobile Mug Library.
“An event the size of the Artisan Market, which often attracts several thousand people, can produce ute-loads of dirty cups, plastic glasses, plates, straws and cans, all of which go to landfill,” Alliance founder Lowanna Doye said.
CoffeeForClimate has made huge inroads into the use of disposables in Bellingen, Urunga and Thora. Four cafes in Bellingen (Liberty, Gelato Bar, Hearthfire, #5 Church St) have phased out single use cups entirely and others encourage their patrons to use Mug Library cups that can be returned to baskets at the door of participating cafes, who then wash and reuse the cups.
Lowanna and the CoffeeForClimate Alliance volunteers will be collecting used cups from baristas/drink vendors at the market, taking them to the van where they will be washed on a super-hot/super-fast cycle, and then returned to the drink vendors’ van.
“All of this depends on the generous volunteers who give their time and effort to help limit climate change” Lowanna said.
“The Environment Council at Bellingen High School really gets it and they have been instrumental in generating publicity, even producing an ad with Kye Ruigrok from 2BBB to spread the word”.
Both the Alliance volunteers and BHS students will be hard at work at the Artisan Market at Bellingen Showground from 8am on Saturday. The Bellingen Artisan Market is auspiced by the Bellingen Grower’s Market, which will be held alongside.