Cafes along the eastern Australian coast are cleaning up their local beaches the only way they know how — by offering caffeine-craving customers free coffee in exchange for a bucket of washed-up rubbish.

North Stradbroke Island business owner Jennie Truman is the latest to issue the challenge.

At her cafe The Blue Room, a bucket of rubbish can be exchanged for a cup of coffee, while at her other store, the Oceanic Gelati Bar, it can be swapped for a small scoop of gelato.

It started earlier this week and already it’s proved popular with the locals, and the beach’s benefitted as a result.

“The first day we had heaps in. We had one couple with enough for three cups of coffee,” Ms Truman said.

“Our main beach, which is facing the south-east, collects everything that comes up from the south on a inshore north current. We’ve had big swells and tide over the summer period and there’s a ridiculous amount of rubbish down there.

“I could fill a bucket in under five minutes, easy.”

“Quite often you go to the beach and unless you’re looking for rubbish you may not see it.

So once you start to notice that stuff, you notice it everywhere.”

Source
ABC News