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WA Café Slammed For Only Serving Coffee In Disposable Cups

WA-based café Surfing Lizard has sparked outrage after it announced its decision to exclusively serve coffee in disposable cups due to staff shortages.

In a now-deleted Facebook post, the business explained that it was more viable for them to serve all drinks except alcohol in takeaway cups due to staff shortages.

“Dear customers, due to a shortage of skilled baristas during this busy season, all drinks – except alcoholic beverages – will be served in takeaway cups until the end of summer,” it read.

“We believe it’s better to serve you a great coffee in a takeaway cup than a subpar one in a mug.”

Customers were quick to call out the ‘1960s behaviour’ that could lead to more waste and litter on the beautiful coastline.

“You only have to look at a place like Bali to realise giving customers disposable cups is going to cause issues. It’s behaviour from the 1960s when people didn’t give a sh*t,” one customer told news.com.au.

“We’re better than that now as a society, at least we should be. It’s a joke really.”

However, one customer had faith that the owners of the café support the community in other ways and would be aware of the effect that single-use cups would have on the environment.

“I believe his [one of the owner’s] decision to use paper cups was made thoughtfully and he took into account the effect it would have on the wildlife,” customer Diane told news.com.au.

“I think there’s things beyond his control that led to it, and he’s made everyone aware, plus it’s only a short-term thing, so I trust that he’s made the best decision he can.”

In 2024, Western Australia became the first state in the country to ban plastic-lined takeaway cups.

The change was part of a wider push to reduce the use of single-use plastics in the WA economy.

The state government also banned the use of disposable plastic food trays without lids, as well as micro-beads and cotton bud sticks.