V&A Waterfront to open new conscious café this July

V&A Waterfront has a new environmentally conscious café

The V&A Waterfront recently announced a new offering, in the form of an innovative new café constructed largely from recycled waste materials.

According to the V&A, the new conscious café is built entirely from salvaged and recyclable waste materials from other construction projects at the V&A Waterfront.

The café is located at the Portswood District, one of the greenest sections of the Waterfront precinct and shares space with a food garden which was established in 2020 and currently supports sustainable urban food programmes, such as Ladles of Love and The Homestead who provide meals to the needy.

The Portswood Café is a Net Carbon Zero structure, meaning it has been built using only waste materials harvested from throughout the Waterfront precinct. These include anything and everything which was discarded during the construction process of other structures, like construction waste and other kinds of waste such as wine bottles from the waste recovery centre, but not waste in terms of paper or household waste.

70% renewable energy by 2026

V&A Waterfront is also surging ahead on its mission to be green and is set to meet 70% of its power needs with energy from solar and wind farms operated by independent electricity producers.

According to Cape Town Etc, V&A Waterfront will be able to do this due to a recent power purchase agreement (PPA) which was signed with Etana Energy for 43 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable energy every year.

This 10-year PPA will be a key landmark in the V&A Waterfront’s sustainability plans, which includes a commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2035.

André Theys, Executive Manager of Operations at the V&A Waterfront, said that 90% of the Waterfront’s emissions come from energy purchases, so the PPA with Etana would make a major contribution towards reducing their carbon footprint.

“The V&A’s sustainability strategy is based on a shared value ecosystem in which everyone at the Waterfront – tenants, residents, staff and visitors – works together to make our precinct the best it can be” Theys said in a statement.