![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/324feb5ba945e5defb03aa0d38a2a1599b7e2744.png\")
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Updated October 28, 2026 \u2014 11:51am,first published October 28, 2026 \u2014 7:40am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n No gift articles left<\/p>\n You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n Close<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Cafes will be able to continue serving customers who choose to sit down to drink hot drinks in recyclable disposable cups in a change to a new law introduced to reduce plastic waste passed last week.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve listened to the concerns raised by small businesses about reusable coffee cup reforms, and we\u2019re making changes to give them certainty and confidence,\u201d said NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe announcing the changes on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cI can confirm that cafes will not be required to offer a mug or glass to dine-in customers. The legislation was designed to give customers the option of a mug or glass when enjoying a coffee in a cafe, rather than only being offered a disposable takeaway cup.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we\u2019ve heard the concerns from small businesses, and we won\u2019t be requiring cafes to purchase any additional cups or change the way they operate.<\/p>\n Related Article Under the laws a range of products will be banned or phased out over coming years, including non-recyclable disposable coffee cups, and disposable coffee cups containing harmful chemicals.<\/p>\n But one provision, that would have made it compulsory for cafes and other outlets to offer dine-in customers standard reusable glassware or crockery for tea and coffee after 2030, has been abandoned.<\/p>\n This provision was objected to by some business groups, including the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, which was concerned that its members might have been inadvertently subject to the changes.<\/p>\n Theo Foukkare, chief executive of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, said whatever the intent of the law, it appeared that it could have seen service station owners being forced to provide reusable coffee cups.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone\u2019s been talking about cafes, but nobody\u2019s mentioned the 2300 servos and convenience stores across NSW that serve coffee around the clock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cPicture a customer grabbing fuel and a coffee from a self serve machine at 2am. Who\u2019s washing the cups?\u201d<\/p>\n The Liberals have sworn to repeal the law under a future NSW Coalition government.<\/p>\n Under the new plastic law the mass release of balloons at events like funerals or weddings will be immediately banned, while other restrictions on single-use plastic items will be phased in over coming years.<\/p>\n These include banning plastic sticks for lollipops in favour of paper or wooden alternatives, banning the plastic ties on bread bags, tethering lids to plastic bottles accepted in return-and-earn schemes, ensuring that stickers on fruit and vegetables are compostable, and phasing out plastic microbeads from beauty and cleaning products.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re also making it clear that there will be no mandatory reusable cup schemes. These schemes allow cafes to partner with cup providers so customers can borrow a reusable cup,\u201d said Sharpe.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were planning exemptions for small businesses to any future reuse schemes \u2013 but to remove all concern, we\u2019re making it clear that there will be no mandatory reuse schemes.<\/p>\n \u201cSome businesses are already choosing to do this on their own, and they are welcome to do so. And to be absolutely clear, the NSW government has never proposed banning single-use takeaway coffee cups. They will be made recyclable, so they can go in the yellow bin,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In 2022-23, NSW generated about 891,000 tonnes of plastic waste \u2013 almost 110 kilograms a head \u2013 but only 14 per cent of that was recycled. Nearly 800 million single-use cups are used in NSW each year, and most are used for only a matter of minutes before being discarded.<\/p>\n Under the new law takeaway coffee cups are not being banned, but from 2028 they must be recyclable. From 2028, cafes will need to accept KeepCups for takeaway when clean and hygienic cups are presented to staff by customers.<\/p>\n The Boomerang Foundation, which led a campaign for plastic waste reform, wrote to the government late on Tuesday night, urging it not change the law.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last few days there has been misinformed criticism of the government\u2019s reuse cup legislation. It is nonsense, but we are aware of its potential political impact and our 56 national, state and local environment NGOs urge the NSW government to not be swayed by it,\u201d wrote director Jeff Angel.<\/p>\n \u201cOne hot cup of coffee in a plastic or plastic lined cup releases thousands of microplastics and associated chemicals.\u201d<\/p>\n He likened opposition to the changes to that which arose when lightweight plastic bags were banned and drink container refunds introduced.<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge you to support all the key elements of the Plastic Reduction and Container Recycling Act, including requiring reusables for dine-in.\u201d<\/p>\n Get to the heart of what\u2019s happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n No gift articles left<\/p>\n You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n Close![\"Nearly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/172b9ffdfdd23bf49458b1d81ea95596ba2a3c23.jpeg\")
Nearly 800 million single-use cups are used in NSW each year, and most are used for only a matter of minutes before being discarded.Istock<\/p>\n![\"Visy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/a68d372afc8eb589707caf2c3b2dbbebb4114afd.jpeg\")
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Nick O’Malley<\/a> is National Environment and Climate Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is also a senior writer and a former US correspondent.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated October 28, 2026 \u2014 11:51am,first published October 28, 2026 \u2014 7:40am Save You have reached your maximum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-948355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}