In 2016, a group of sustainability-minded (and dog-loving) students from Common Energy at the University of British Columbia decided that our coffee habit had become a problem. Single-use coffee cups were everywhere and, despite our best efforts, we kept losing or forgetting our reusable mugs.

​

We sought to solve this problem with a solution that would be convenient, accessible, and effective. Through collaboration, successes, and failures, a system was refined and piloted at cafes across campus in early 2019. In just 6 months, we grew from 7 to 25 locations across both Vancouver and Kelowna and diverted over 10,000 single-use cups from the landfill.

 

We took what we thought would be a ‘short’ break to upgrade our mugs (we found our pilots mugs weren't up for the wear and tear of a commercial-scale reuse program) — but we weren't expecting a global pandemic to happen! While this set our timelines back, we never lost hope.

We took our time to find a new mug (based on feedback from our partners), extensively researched the viability of reusables as a safe, low-impact option (check out our safety page for details), AND — joined forces with Vancouver's other mug-sharing pioneer, CUPPY!

Finally, in the fall of 2021, mugshare officially went live. The results? Well, consider this an open invitation to join our community of mugsharers, and grow with us as we work to shift the norm on single-use waste. Let's do this!