OPEN LOOP CUPS COORDINATOR

Status: Part time volunteer staff preferred, possibly paid

About Plastic Reduction Project

Plastic Reduction Project (“PRP”) is an Austin-based 501c3 nonprofit. Our mission is to reduce plastic production, consumption, and waste as much as possible by working with brands, institutions, and small businesses towards better plastic-related choices. Our emphasis is on single-use plastic as an often unnecessary and controllable — yet pervasive — source of waste. Shifting to reuse is the primary goal while boosting composting and recycling where possible.

About the role

The Austin Reuse Coalition, of which PRP is a core member and Fiscal Sponsor, has an existing Bring Your Own (BYO) campaign at Austin-area cafes/coffee shops to promote reuse. PRP plans to further promote reuse and deepen those relationships by developing an open-loop, library-style cups exchange program supported by a smart phone app. Customers will be able to check out and drop off cups from any participating location. The Open Loop Cups Coordinator will launch the program and oversee its growth.

Responsibilities

• Phase I – Sales and Launch
  • Work a pipeline of approx. 110 local, independently-owned cafes that are already participating in a BYO campaign to recruit them into the open-loop cups program
  • Train baristas, managers and other staff on how the program works and how to sell the program to their customers
  • Ensure that signage is set up in relevant areas near the checkout and cup return areas
  • Conduct in-store tabling events for individual store launches and store refreshes
• Phase II – Management and Optimization
  • Read monthly reports to identify anomalies for investigation, following up with shop staff, tech providers, and/or PRP as appropriate
  • Periodically check on shops to ensure that signage is displayed appropriately and that baristas are sufficiently knowledgeable of what the program is, how it works, and to test if they are actively promoting the program to customers
  • Share data with participating shops (for the ones that consent to having their data shared) and convene round table discussions amongst café staff to cross-pollinate successful practices with the view of helping leading shops lift the lagging shops
  • Recruit volunteers to assist with any relevant activities, including the above tasks as appropriate. Balance between delegated to volunteers and what needs to be done directly
  • Process lost cup charges for users that do not return their cups
  • Respond to customer service queries, if any, that arise via the app
  • Communicate and report on what is going well vs. what is not, what issues are being experienced; recommend solutions to problems encountered
• Phase III – Expansion
  • Assist with expanding the network into additional cities
  • Cross-pollinate experiences, lessons learned, and successes from the Austin launch into launches in other cities
  • Assist with fundraising to fuel the addition of additional locations

Key Metrics

• Locations – the number of participating cafes
• Users – the number of unique users who download the app and use it at least once
• Borrow Volume – the number of “turns” or “borrows” via the app. This relates to the growth in users, but also how often users use the app. For example, the average number of borrows per unique active user per month in Columbus is more than four. In Portland, the average is close to ten.
• Shop Engagement – steady growth in new user acquisition. Each participating shop should appoint a Reuse Champion that we can interface with if managers/owners are too busy to attend to emails or texts. That individual can then transmit information to colleagues, help to keep training fresh when there is barista turnover, and be our eyes and ears if signage gets moved or damaged.

Project Objectives

• Steady, upward growth in Key Metrics, displacing a growing volume of single-use foodware with reuse as the program makes headway.
• Maintain good and deepening relationships with the café participants such that they perceive us to be a good partner to work with. An additional aim is that they will want to continue the reuse journey with PRP and ARC through other aspects of their operations.
• Build a smoothly running operation with engaged partners, good visibility, and satisfied consumers.
• Increase PRP visibility in the market as a means of raising our profile and attracting donors and corporate sponsors, which will enable us to grow the program both in Austin and outside of Austin.