Australia has serious issues with it’s recycling industry, particularly in the case of take-away coffee cups where we use approximately 1 billion cups a year (Mannix, 2017). Given they are generally made of a cardboard outer, there is confusion as to how they are disposed of (Gray, 2017). The introduction of ‘bio’ cups has further added to the confusion. Although bio cups are bio degradable, Richard Fine - founder of BioPak which creates the cups says ”at this stage, in most states, in most councils, our products will end up in landfill” (Mannix, 2017). The reason for this is that the bio plastic used in the lining of BioPak cups is only commercially compostible. Recycling facilities with the technology to commercially compost bio plastics are not widely available in Australia (Mannix, 2017), nor are collection systems to get your plastics to these facilities (Downes, Borg, & Florin, 2021). The vast majority of kerbside organics recycling bins don’t currently accept compostable plastics and other packaging (Downes, Borg, & Florin, 2021). The reality is, you should only consider using compostable plastics when you have a facility that will take them, and a way to get them there (Downes, Borg, & Florin, 2021).

I have looked into my local recycling operators in Wagga Wagga and they do not recycle any coffee cups (City of Wagga Wagga, n.d.).

I have also researched alternative avenues and there are two companies that are addressing the issue of coffee cups. One is Simply Cups who provides a collection service for all coffee cups and then up-cycles them. The other is RecycleMe cups made by Detpak which are made using recyclable materials but only when you return them to one of their dedicated collection points. Unfortunately neither of these are available in Wagga Wagga.

Wagga Wagga has an estimated population of 69,500, A Google search of coffee shops in Wagga Wagga results in over 40 vendors for takeaway coffee. This is a lot of coffee cups going into landfill.

I used a survey to ask a small group of people in Wagga Wagga what they think is the way to dispose of a coffee cup. I posed the first question asking how they dispose of a coffee cup, which 39.47% said goes into recycling, and then posed the additional question of ‘what if it is a bio cup’. From this, 68.42% of my group said that bio cups go into recycling.

I think there is a common misconception that because the cups say ‘bio’ on them, that they are recyclable. I myself thought the same until it was pointed out to me.

This topic needs to receive attention so people are made aware of the correct information. There is a lack of consistency Australia-wide in terms of recycling, as each council area does it according to their individual recycling rules (Grace, Chung, & Dye, 2019).

This campaign has been designed to raise awareness of the issue and encourage a reduction in the amount of cups going to landfill.

Contact for further information on posters you can purchase to help spread the awareness.