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In this case study, we unpack mug library trials at cafés on Sydney’s Northern Beaches – Butterbox Café on Long Reef Beach, The Pocket Café in Freshwater and Deli on Waterloo in Narrabeen.

Astin Min, a café, delicatessen and catering business combined, already supported reusables by selling cups and lids, providing borrow-cups, and offering discounts for customers who bring their own. To increase uptake, it trialled a BYO reusables ‘happy hour’ over a 7-week period in winter 2024.

Butterbox Café is located on a nature reserve at Long Reef, just steps from the beach. Business owner Martin Arrisueno cares about the environment and his concerns are shared by many in the local community.

With several sustainable options already in place, Morning Glory Café, which overlooks Coogee beach, launched a 3-week challenge in November 2024, in a bid to ramp up reusable cup usage and reduce waste over busiest season. The challenge culminated in ‘BYO Cup Day,’ when the café aimed to serve every single drink in a reusable cup.

When hospitality businesses choose to help the planet by embracing reusables, they can also boost profits and reduce packaging costs while modelling positive behaviour change in their local community.

Tracking the progress of your changes using simple data collection methods can show you whether your customer base is responding to your reusables campaign.

Encouraging reusables is an easy way to make your café more sustainable. You’ll make an impact on the environment, reduce packaging costs and help your customers drive positive change in their local community.

By supporting café owners to promote sustainable alternatives to take-away coffee cups, the Reusable Café Project saw reusable cups increase from an average of 13% of coffees to 30%, with some cafés serving up to 60% of coffees in a reusable cup.

In this case study, we shine the spotlight on two Paddington businesses, Tuckerbox and Wolf Café, and a new initiative, the Paddo Cup Project, which was set up by the local chamber of commerce.

The project team noticed a common theme when meeting with café owners: reusable use was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, when some businesses stopped accepting keep cups and the like, in case there was a contamination risk.