12 September 2019

From dust to dust: Capital Brewing goes plastic-free at Floriade

| Lachlan Roberts
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Capital Brewing Co’s Alex Hoskison and Dan Watters with a handful of the bugs that will turn your beer cups to compost at this year’s Floriade. Photos: Supplied.

With the help of bugs and plants, Capital Brewing Co will go entirely plastic-free at its Commonwealth Park pop-up pub during Floriade this year.

Partnering with the ACT Government, BioPak and local Canberra waste-management firm Goterra, Capital Brewing Co will serve its beers in plastic-free cups, allowing people to enjoy their cold beverages in cups made from plants as they sit among the flowers.

Capital Brewing Co successfully trialled the plastic-free solution during an event at their taproom earlier this year, but events manager Dan Watters said they weren’t happy at the prospect of using 10,000 plastic cups during the flower festival.

“We were thrilled when Floriade organisers approached us with the desire to reduce the amount of plastic at the event,” Mr Watters said. “We had already done our homework and said ‘Let’s go one better and eliminate it entirely!’”

Capital Brewing Co will use BioPak’s cups which are made from Ingeo – a bioplastic made from plants. Patrons are then asked to dispose of the cups in specially marked bins so they can be transferred to Goterra’s Fyshwick facility.

The cups will be shredded to become a snack for black soldier fly larvae, turning the cups into compost in a world-first waste management solution.

Look out for special stations positioned around Floriade to dispose of the BioCups.

Mr Watters said he hopes Capital Brewing Co and Floriade’s initiative would pave the way for other event organisers to reduce their use of plastic.

“We have the materials and now the facilities here in the ACT. There really is no excuse not to go that extra mile,” he said. “This could not be more appropriate than at an event such as Floriade which is a celebration of our natural world.”

Capital Brewing Co will be celebrating this year’s Floriade theme A World in Bloom with an array of internationally inspired brews from crisp Czech Pilsners to big, hoppy West Coast USA double India Pale Ales, with all the specialty brews served in compostable BioCups.

Capital Brewing Co’s Floriade pub will run from noon every day from 14 September until 13 October near Stage 88 in Commonwealth Park in Canberra.

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