Coffee Cups

Carry a reusable cup with you for whenever you buy coffee or tea, and help reduce single-use disposable plastic.

Pile of keep cups

All coffee cups and lids sold from cafes on campus are 100% compostable and can go in the green bin. If you are buying your drinks elsewhere the majority of disposable cups are lined with plastic which makes them difficult to recycle. Some cups can be composted, but it's difficult to distinguish between the good and the bad, so recycling bins often get contaminated with the wrong items. 

If you don’t know if your cup is compostable, put it in the landfill bin. 

DID YOU KNOW: An estimated one billion takeaway coffee cups end up in landfill each year in Australia, despite only being used for ten minutes or less.

Coffee Pods

An estimated 60 billion coffee pods were consumed worldwide in 2019, with Australian’s using around 3 million pods every day. Plastic and aluminium pods are too small to recycle through a conventional recycling service, so unless they are separated and sent to a specialist recycling facility, they end up in landfill.

DID YOU KNOW: It takes up to 500 years for aluminium and plastic capsules to breakdown in landfill.

What you can do

Join the #DitchDisposables campaign and pledge to stop using single-use disposable items, like plastic water bottles, straws, bags and coffee cups.

Ella at the Mug Wall
  • BYO reusable cup. Most cafes will give you a 50c discount.
  • Sit and enjoy a beverage at a cafe that provides crockery.
  • Borrow a novelty mug from the Grind & Press Mug Wall and return it when you're next in the Hub.
  • Ask your barista to provide 100% compostable cups.
  • Order your coffee without a lid.
  • Challenge your office or area to #DitchDisposables and keep a tally of the number of takeaway cups you've saved.
  • Help educate your colleagues and friends about the global coffee cup problem.
  • If you must use a coffee pod, make sure it's 100% compostable.
  • Purchase brands that have a specific recycling program for the used pods, like Nespresso , L’OR or Moccona . 

Resources