Coffee Cups
Carry a reusable cup with you for whenever you buy coffee or tea, and help reduce single-use disposable plastic.
![Pile of colourful reusable keep cups](/sustainability/sites/default/files/styles/ua_image_full_width/public/media/images/2023-03/keep-cups.jpg?h=57013b68&itok=6QNCtWiZ)
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.
All coffee cups and lids sold from cafes on campus are 100% compostable and can go in the green organics bin.
If you are buying your hot drinks from elsewhere, it's often difficult to know if the cup is compostable or lined with plastic. If you don’t know if your cup is compostable, put it in the landfill bin.
Coffee pods
Did you know? It takes up to 500 years for aluminum and plastic capsules to breakdown in landfill.
An estimated 60 billion coffee pods were consumed worldwide in 2019, with Australian’s using around 3 million pods every day. Plastic and aluminum 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.
What you can do
- BYO reusable cup. Most cafes will give you a 50c discount.
- Sit and enjoy a beverage at a cafe that provides crockery.
- Order your coffee without a lid.
- 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.