Vancouver’s single-use cup fee to end May 1

Vancouver’s single-use cup fee is coming to an end on Monday.

City council voted to scrap the 25-cent fee back in February, which came into effect in January 2022.

Coun. Rebecca Bligh put forward the motion to remove the fee saying that it has done little to change consumer habits.

Those thoughts were echoed on Sunday by JJ Bean CEO John Neate.

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“It’s unbelievable the number of customers that come in and still want coffee in a paper cup, drink it at our stores, finish it at our stores and leave the paper cup on the table,” he told Global News.

Neate said JJ Bean has a set price for in-store coffee and asks at the till if customers will be drinking their coffee in the store or to go.

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If customers choose to drink inside the store, JJ Bean serves the coffee in a ceramic mug and offers them a 25-cent discount. If a customer brings their own mug, they get a 50-cent discount.

Despite these in-store discounts, Neate says many customers till choose to a to-go cup and then drink it within the store.

“I think it did not work because it wasn’t enough of an incentive for people and 25 cents doesn’t really affect them,” Neate said.

According to the city, effective May 1, businesses will no longer be required to charge 25-cents for single-use cups, report the number of single-use cups when renewing business licence, and accept customers’ clean reusable cups for drinks ordered in-store.

Food vendors are encouraged to remove the cup fee from their in-store, online, and mobile point-of-sale systems, menus, and receipts by May 1.

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Ian Tostenson, BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association’s president and CEO, told Global News back in Feburary, that while minimizing the footprint on the environment and climate is important, the fee was not the “right way to do it.”

“It’s our responsibility from an environmental point of view, but this wasn’t the way to do it. To penalize your customer and to have to try and explain to them the 25-cent fee is really a tough one,” he said.

“The environment is our number one responsibility and there’s a lot of businesses that are doing this despite city hall and are really interested in their footprint.

“We believe it’s all about consumer education and consumer engagement.”