A collection of unwanted coffee mugs is helping a Wavell Heights café cut down on disposable cup waste, earning Apricot Coffee a finalist spot in Brisbane’s 2026 WasteSMART Awards. Its Mug Library gives old mugs another purpose while offering takeaway customers an alternative to single-use packaging.
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The café is a finalist in the WasteSMART Hospitality and Tourism Award, which recognises waste-reduction efforts in the sector. Apricot Coffee’s entry centres on making reusable options part of an ordinary coffee run rather than something customers need to plan ahead.
A Second Life for Unwanted Mugs
The Mug Library puts unwanted mugs back into circulation, allowing customers to use them for takeaway drinks instead of disposable cups. It also offers an option for people who arrive without their own reusable coffee cup.
According to WasteSMART, the initiative diverts more than 3,277 single-use cups from landfill annually. The figure is reported by the awards organisers and should be understood as an estimate of the initiative’s annual impact, rather than an independently audited measurement.
The idea is straightforward. Mugs that might otherwise sit unused in cupboards can serve a practical purpose at the café, reducing reliance on disposable packaging while keeping existing items in use.
Apricot Coffee also offers home-compostable takeaway cups. The awards organisers report that the business has served more than 10,000 takeaway drinks in reusable or compostable cups since the beginning of 2026.
Those figures describe two different measures. The annual Mug Library estimate concerns single-use cups avoided, while the larger total includes drinks served in both reusable and compostable cups. It would be misleading to treat all 10,000 drinks as disposable cups prevented from entering landfill.
Waste Reduction Beyond Takeaway Cups
The café’s approach also extends to the waste generated while preparing and serving drinks. Creative Café Company has identified Apricot Coffee as a customer of InTheLoop, a North Brisbane compost collection service.
The service collects suitable organic waste, including coffee grounds, food scraps and compostable cups, from participating hospitality businesses. Its inclusion in the café’s waste-management arrangements provides a separate pathway for materials that would otherwise require disposal.
Apricot Coffee’s published business updates have also described recycling paper, plastic and glass, as well as participation in Containers for Change. Those accounts provide further background on the café’s approach, although the current operation of each arrangement has not been independently confirmed.
Reusable mugs and compostable cups serve different purposes. Mugs can be washed and used again, while compostable packaging needs suitable collection and processing conditions to deliver its intended waste-management benefits.
The Mug Library remains the clearest example of Apricot Coffee’s efforts because it reduces the need for a disposable cup at the point of purchase.
Local Café Recognised Among Brisbane Finalists
Apricot Coffee’s recognition places a neighbourhood business among the finalists in a Brisbane-wide program celebrating waste reduction and resource recovery.
The Hospitality and Tourism nomination acknowledges an initiative built around an everyday item rather than specialised equipment or a large-scale project. Its reported results also show how the café is measuring the use of alternatives to disposable takeaway cups.
At Apricot Coffee, the idea behind the nomination is visible in the mugs themselves. An item no longer needed in one household can be used for another takeaway coffee, without requiring a new disposable cup.
Published 27-October-2026
