This is one of a series of articles on Circular Economy by Lorinda Cramer and Deborah Lee-Talbot, published for #WorldEnvironmentDay 2025
Tumble out of bed and stumble to the cafe, order myself a cup of…circular economy ambition? This version of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” may not be as toe-tappin’ as the original, yet it echoes the start of many Melbournians’ days. Each day, Melbourne alone imports 30 tonnes of coffee beans for use in cafes, restaurants, businesses and homes— enough to make three million “daily cuppas”.[1] Across the country, three-quarters of Australians have a daily coffee.[2]
This daily ritual of reaching over the counter or through a drive-through window may seem mundane, but it has introduced many coffee drinkers – consciously or not – to the practices and ideas associated with the Circular Economy (CE). Using Melbourne’s famous coffee culture as a pilot, local councils and state governments are currently testing how a subtle change to a person’s daily routines can lead Australians towards a generational shift in thinking that has local, regional and global impacts.
The regulatory frameworks for the introduction of the CE in Victoria have been slow to form and are still being developed. Last year, the Regional Australia Institute found that rather than developing new “resource management and design”, states and territories are focusing on waste management as a step into CE.[3] Waste management is an essential service for protecting our environment and implementing change in people’s places of work, community and homes, forming a unified ripple effect throughout people’s lives. In 2024, the tradition of exporting Australian soft plastics to other nations was replaced with the creation of infrastructure for local recycling initiatives. In late June, in-store soft plastic recycling will be relaunched at Woolworths Group, Coles and Aldi.[4] This specific action aims to address the accumulation of soft plastics since China implemented its ban on foreign waste imports on 1 January 2018.[5]
In 2020, the Victorian government changed waste management and recycling practices for local government, residents and businesses. For example, with $45,000 from a 2022 Circular Economy Councils Fund Feasibility grant, the City of Stonnington began “[t]rialing the effectiveness of a business engagement and capacity building program aimed at the professional services, hospitality and retail sectors”.[6] The resulting Go Full Circle business program was a collaborative effort run in 2022-3 by the cities of Melbourne and Stonnington. Focusing on small and medium-sized hospitality, retail, and professional services located in Boroondara, business owners learned about CE through a combination of online classes, consultations, and demonstrations, concentrating on issues of risk identification and sustainability. Business owners like Luke Phillips of Into Coffee shared practical and applied lessons on overcoming barriers to integrating the CE into business operations – and by extension, into daily life. The humble morning coffee thus provided local businesses with the means to identify their pathway into the circular economy.
Two years later, the first CE precinct in Melbourne was launched in Kensington. Supported financially by the Victorian Government and City of Melbourne, and building on smaller residential and business programs and grants, the precinct was designed to draw together Kensington’s residents and local businesses. The creation of a precinct provided a supportive, educational forum for residents and businesses to negotiate the complex process of switching between linear and circular economies. In Kensington retail, hospitality and grocery businesses had the option to become participatory sites through which consumers could make CE-informed purchases. Getting a morning coffee was a deceptively simple act. To make it a truly circular act, the waste milk, ground beans, and even receipts, from the morning coffee rush are being re-purposed by the Melbourne business, Farm Goat, into packaged bars of soap.[7]
One of the biggest challenges for CE in the coffee industry is the single-use take-away cups —the second-largest contributor to litter after plastic bottles.[8] To help people begin the habit-forming behaviours associated with CE, hubs for compost, recycling, and reuse were positioned around Kensington. Intended to educate residents about the limitations of takeaway coffee cups, with the plastic-lined interior, these community hubs make residents aware that plastic coated cardboard can only go into general rubbish. While not a pure act of recycling, this informed process helps to recover more resources from recycling. This allows councils to create park benches, cardboard boxes, and mulch for use in the community.[9] Regular residential education and maintenance of these sites relied on volunteer labour.
The combination of careful planning, local focus, and community buy-in made the ‘Community Led Compost Education Plan’ successful. Significantly, the final report indicated incorporating a mixture of locations into the CE precinct – those with historic value to the community, like ‘The Venny’ (a ‘communal backyard’ for Kensington’s children), and new facilities – made for successful residential participation.[10] However, transitional challenges persisted: businesses were still involved with the linear economy, and individuals’ particular needs or location within the community impacted their engagement.
Australia’s slow adoption of CE policy will not be resolved with the creation of one precinct in inner Melbourne. The gradual assumption of reusable cups by coffee drinkers is one step that can lead to larger change within the community. Still, it is a meaningful start, particularly as the Kensington precinct and Melbourne’s cafés share their successes and challenges with similar communities across suburbs, state and federal borders.
NOTES
[1] Visit Melbourne, ‘Foodie Facts’, Visit Victoria, https://www.visitmelbourne.com/eat-and-drink/foodie-facts, accessed April 18, 2025.
[2] Melissa Compagnoni, ‘Australia’s Coffee Culture Explained’, SBS Australia Explained (podcast transcript), https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/en/podcast-episode/australias-coffee-culture-explained/4b2i2n6ka, accessed April 18, 2025.
[3] Regional Australia Institute, Circular economy in action: regional perspectives, (Canberra: Regional Australia Institute, [year unknown]), pp. 1–32
[4] Tanya Plibersek, “Joint Media Release: Soft Plastics Recycling in NSW Gets Major New Investment,” Minister for the Environment and Water, https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/joint-media-release-soft-plastics-recycling-nsw-gets-major-new-investment-0, accessed May 2025.
[5] Michael Walsh, “China’s Ban on Foreign Rubbish Leaves Australian Recycling Industry in a Mess,” ABC News, December 10, 2017, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-10/china-ban-on-foreign-rubbish-leaves-recycling-industry-in-a-mess/9243184.
[6] Sustainability Victoria, Circular Economy Councils Fund, (Melbourne: Sustainability Victoria, 2024), .
[7] Farm Goat. “Why Farm Goat.” Farm Goat. Accessed May 27, 2025. https://farmgoat.com.au/pages/the-farm-goat-story.
[8] ’Single-use Coffee Cups’, Clean Up Australia, https://www.cleanup.org.au/single-use-coffee-cups, accessed 2 May 2025.
[9] ‘Small Acts Are All It Takes to Make a Big Impact’, Sustainability Victoria, https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/circular-economy-and-recycling/at-home/small-acts-big-impact/small-act-coated-cardboard-not-recyclable, accessed May 2025.
[10] Kensington Circular Economy Precinct, City of Melbourne (Melbourne: Sustainability Victoria, 2024), https://assets.sustainability.vic.gov.au/susvic/Kensington-Circular-Economy-Precinct_City-of-Melbourne_2023.pdf, accessed May 2025.
