The Re-Five project, a plastic-reduction initiative initiated by a team of students at the Royal University of Phnom Penh’s (RUPP) Department of Media and Communication, has concluded a 60-day campaign.

Running from November 22-January 22, the campaign encouraged coffee shops to cooperate by providing discounts to customers who brought their own bottles or mugs.

The student-run project uses digital media to raise awareness on the realities and impacts of plastic in daily use, and encourage the public to follow the “5Rs”: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Raising Awareness.

During the period, 45 coffee shops joined the campaign and 580 customers received discounts through the associated scheme, which translates to a daily average of 0.21 customers at any given establishment. Of note, the RUPP team had earlier reported that 50 shops had jumped on board the project.

A Khmer-language report on the campaign released on January 21 indicated that on social media platforms during the 60 days, the team produced or hosted at least one of each of: educational video clips and digital posters, photo competitions and prize draws.

Views on the campaign’s website, Facebook posts, Instagram and Tik Tok over the period reached, respectively, more than 1,000, more than 110,000, around 17,000, and more than 47,000.

The campaign was set up to support the implementation of the “Combatting Marine Plastic Litter in Cambodia” project, with support from the Ministry of Environment, the National Council for Sustainable Development, the Japanese government, and UN Development Programme (UNDP).