New South Wales Drops Plan to Make Cafes Offer Mugs Instead of Takeaway Cups

The government of New South Wales (NSW), Australia's south-eastern state, led by Premier Chris Minns, has abandoned a plan that would have required cafes to offer mugs and glasses to dine-in customers instead of disposable cups. It will also scrap a rule obliging businesses to join a reusable cup scheme or face a fine of up to $110,000.

The Labor government changed course a week after parliament passed the legislation, facing opposition from small businesses and the media group News Corp Australia. The reform was part of a plan to cut plastic waste, as Sydney's landfill is projected to run out by 2030. The mug and glass requirement was due to apply from 2028.

Environment minister Penny Sharpe told 2GB radio the government would repeal these provisions. She said small businesses were under pressure and the government wanted them to operate as they needed to, adding that extensive exemptions had always been planned. After speaking with Minns, she said, the government concluded the mandate was not needed.

What remains

A separate rule requiring businesses to accept customers' own reusable cups, provided they are clean, stays in place. So does the requirement that single-use takeaway cups be recyclable by 2028.

The Daily Telegraph ran a front page last week headlined "'Nup' to the Cup", along with several stories in which small business owners criticised the cost of joining the reusable cup scheme. In a 2GB interview a day earlier, Minns had said the government was not getting rid of disposable cups, and noted that he uses them himself.

Political context

The law will not be repealed until after the March 2027 election, because only two sitting weeks remain before parliament is dissolved. Sharpe has asked the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to issue a statement of regulatory intent making clear that certain changes will not proceed. The opposition has pledged to repeal the laws if elected. Labor is under pressure from the Coalition and One Nation, both of which are running pro-small-business platforms and promising significant payroll tax cuts.