Abigail Forsyth, Co-Founder and Managing Director KeepCup

The lockdown has given the privileged among us pause to focus on the escalating catastrophe of climate change. We now have an unparalleled moment to change course, lift quality of life for all citizens and build a society that is more enjoyable, inclusive and equitable. It is an opportunity to really ramp up the marvellous 2026 Vision for the City of Melbourne.

Working Together

In 2008 KeepCup received a Small Business Development Grant from the City of Melbourne. The call, notifying us of our successful application, came with one final question – are you sure someone hasn’t already done this? After all, albeit beautifully designed and locally manufactured in Victoria, KeepCup is just a cup, and such an obvious waste solution: Keep it, use it again.

The City of Melbourne supported KeepCup to take a gamble that the love of coffee, usability and aesthetics would drive behaviour change and create the reuse movement with which we are now synonymous. KeepCup has gone from being a small act of rebellion in the face of waste and convenience culture, to part of a long list of changes that once felt impossible but are now part of daily life (remember smoking in restaurants?).

Let’s not go back to ‘Normal’

The race back to ‘normal’ is a race in the wrong direction. ‘Normal’ is environmental damage at rates unprecedented in human history, with 1 million species now threatened with extinction[1]. ‘Normal’ is 8.2 billion kg of plastic waste[2] flooding our oceans each year, equivalent to 16.5 grocery bags of rubbish per metre of coastline around the world. ‘Normal’ is a time of racial inequality and a widening gap between rich and poor, where the world’s richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people’[3].

We add our voice to those calling for a green recovery and post-growth economy. The answer to the question of how we might emerge and thrive is not the same as before, but the solutions are obvious. It's about reframing how we think about what a good life looks and feels like. It’s about thinking critically through the impacts and the consequences.

Melbourne's Post-Waste Economy

Pre-COVID, Melbourne was home to over 1600 cafes and restaurants. Sadly, many businesses will not survive lockdown and its immediate aftermath. Those who do must be incentivised to emerge into a post-waste economy.

The re-emergence should cement Melbourne as a city fostering low impact, low waste business by banning unnecessary and problematic single-use plastics – creating a city that no longer needs, wants or uses single-use cups.

Creating a cleaner environment pulls people back to the city and creates jobs. To do this we must:

1. Ban single-use water bottles, straws, bags, cups and crockery
2. Provide more water refill stations around the City of Melbourne
3. Make consumer-facing wash stations, such as those available at Kokako Coffee in New Zealand, available for BYO reusables
4. Mandate rinse and wash facilities in all food businesses and eliminate the need for single-use crockery and cutlery
5. Ban all advertising that displays single-use food packaging
6. Place Reground hubs across the city to recycle more coffee bean waste
7. Place compost bins and facilities in public spaces

Bold strategies such as these result in the reduction of the volume of waste, waste collection requirements and disposable costs paid by the City of Melbourne council, and will also reduce litter and pollution.

Green Recovery Fuels Economic Recovery

Now is the time to set transformative policy agendas underpinned by justice for the planet and its people. The two are interlinked and we cannot address one without the other.

A green recovery creates jobs. KPMG analysis shows circular economy policies around food, transport and the built environment would add over $210 billion in GDP, and an additional 17,000 full time jobs in Australia over the next 30 years. Beyond Zero Emissions’ Million Jobs Plan and the UK Local Government Association’s Local Green Jobs plan both show job booms resulting from investment in green technologies and net zero commitments.

At KeepCup, we support the circular economy. But in order to be truly effective, we need a circle, and we need an economy. There is no amount of recycling that can address the waste created by single-use packaging.

Businesses like KeepCup can play a key role in driving this cultural change, bringing solutions to market, and advocating externally to drive behaviour and legislative change. At KeepCup we work closely with our supply chain to increase positive impact and reduce the negative. We practice circular design focusing on reduction, reuse, and repair. We will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2025 with a focus on science-based targets and real reduction over offsetting. We work with partners to trial new tech, such as our trial of eleXsys with Planet Ark Power, a new system that allows businesses to commercially feed clean energy back into the grid.

The time is now: for business, civil society, and governments to come together and start the green recovery. This is about jobs creation and securing an equitable, biodiverse planet for future generations. It is up to all of us to take this opportunity and create the world we imagine.

Let’s do it City of Melbourne, we are ready to help.

[1] https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/

[2] https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/plastics-facts-infographics-ocean-pollution/ (Numbers converted to metric from the original source, which quotes these amounts in pounds and feet)

[3] https://www.oxfam.org/en/5-shocking-facts-about-extreme-global-inequality-and-how-even-it

This opinion paper is part of the City of the Future event 2, exploring focus area 2: Future Business.

Problem statement: How might we encourage new industries and businesses to emerge and thrive in the city?