Eastlake Coffee & Cafe Makes the Switch to Reuse

Eastlake Coffee & Café ("Eastlake Coffee") is a locally owned coffee shop that offers quality beverages and a wide variety of baked goods and savory meals. Nestled between lake Union and Portage Bay, Eastlake Coffee provides a cozy ambience to enjoy a warm drink and connect with friends and neighbors alike.

Stacks of durable ceramic plates and mugs at Eastlake Coffee.

A Reuse Success Story

In December of 2024, an owner of the café reached out to Reuse Seattle looking for help in making the switch to reusable dishware. While the café owned a small inventory of dishware, they consistently found themselves running out and resorting to single-use alternatives for dine-in customers (e.g. wrapping food in tinfoil and paper bags normally used for takeout). They were also using single-use plastic cups at their water station and were interested in swapping them out for reusable alternatives. To reduce their overall waste, Eastlake Coffee requested Reuse Seattle's $500 dishware incentive to shift away from single-use packaging.

The Results

Through Reuse Seattle's incentive program, Eastlake Coffee received ceramic plates and mugs in addition to reusable plastic water cups for their water station. In the first 10 months after switching to reuse, Eastlake Coffee prevented the disposal of 5,000 single-use cups and saved $250 on single-use inventory costs. As a result, the café prevented 148 pounds of single0use waste with the potential to reduce their ceramic disposal costs. The café also saw a 5% increase in the number of customers dining in, contributing to greater cost savings over time with reusable dishware.

The business owner has confirmed this pattern, observing an increase in dine-in customers using ceramic plates rather than tinfoil or paper bags and emphasizing resulting savings, particularly on busy weekends.

"We are so grateful to have been selected to participate in this program and do our part to continue to reduce waste. Every little effort makes a difference and adds up. It's a big help for a small business to receive the dishware, which we will put to good use for many more years." - Business Owner

Impacts

While using more reusable dishware can increase dishwashing frequency, the Eastlake Coffee owner noted only marginal increases in water usage and labor with insignificant cost impacts compared to operation costs before increasing reuse. To reduce the frequency of dishwashing and minimize water usage, Eastlake Coffee plans to increase their dishware inventory to maximize full dishwasher space and reduce the number of cycles.

Additionally, café employees and customer have expressed gratitude for the café's efforts to reduce waste.