The Victorian Government has updated its COVID-19 guidance for hospitality, providing assurance that businesses can accept reusable cups and containers.

Some cafés are also adopting a ‘contactless pour’ technique, which means that the only person to touch the reusable cup is the person who brought it into the café.

The contactless pour technique involves the following steps:

1. Customers place their clean reusable cup onto the counter or tray without the lid.
2. The beverage is made in an in-house vessel and poured into the customer’s cup without touching it.
3. The customer places the lid on their reusable cup.

As part of the updated guidelines, businesses are under no obligation to accept dirty cups and must follow other COVIDSafe principles, such as practising good hygiene.

Glen Eira Mayor Cr Margaret Esakoff said bringing your own reusable cup to your favourite café is just one way of reducing our use of single-use plastics.

“About 40 per cent of the plastics we consume as individuals are single-use. Plastic is made from fossil fuels like oil, natural gas and even coal,” she said.

“More plastic has been produced in the last 10 years than the 100 years prior, so it’s important for everyone to reduce their use of single-use plastics wherever they can.”

For further information, visit the Victorian Government COVID-19 website.