AN uMhlanga restaurant owner is on a mission to support local farmers. Duncan Heafield, who owns the Bellézar Beach Café in uMhlanga, has been collecting take away coffee cups to re-purpose as seedling trays.
The cafe grows various vegetables to donate to a farmer based in Tongaat.
What’s more, the caféhas committed to purchase the fresh produce back from the farmer, to use in their restaurant.
The initiative aims to address seaside pollution and support local farmers, said Heafield.The idea grew out of the Covid-19 pandemic and nation wide lockdown, said Heafield.
“At the beginning of lockdown, the government imposed the laws that restaurants were allowed to operate on a takeaway and delivery basis only. This created a new system of catering for people with disposable cutlery and crockery. At the same time, there was the 6am-9am time slot for exercise on the promenade,” he said.
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This led to a higher demand for coffee and subsequently, disposable cups piled up.
“Suddenly, there were masses of coffee cups being used. People that would normally go to gym were using the promenade as a running track. We saw this sudden surge of coffee cups come to the forefront,” said Heafield.
The Bellézar Beach Café is part of the Cabana Beach Hotel and takes part in their social investment drive, Take 3 for the Sea, which aims to protect the coastline.
“Everyday we were collecting bags and bags of polystyrene and cups. It was a massive amount and we thought, ‘we have to do something with this.’ So Cabana Beach Hotel and the Urban Improvement Precinct started the initiative. We are one of the biggest suppliers of coffee on the promenade, so we are one of the biggest users of coffee cups. We decided to put up recycling boxes in front of our cafe. We clean the beach and on a daily basis we sort the cups. We then plant different seeds in the cups,” he said.
“We are encouraging other hotels to do this. The cups can be planted directly into the soil,” he added.
The cafe is currently growing peas, celery, carrots, spinach, cabbage, beans and tomatoes.
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