Responsible Cafes joins SIPtember with social enterprise STREAT

siptember: an annual campaign normalising reuse by social enterprise streat

Every year, Australians use an eye-watering 1.8 billion disposable coffee cups. While some are labelled “compostable,” only a tiny amount are actually recycled, repurposed or downcycled. The rest end up clogging landfill, where they generate greenhouse gases, contaminating recycling bins, or blowing into our waterways. All of that just for a single-use item with a “lifespan” of just 15–20 minutes.

The campaign began in STREAT’s cafés: living labs for reuse

Since 2019, STREAT’s own cafés across Melbourne have been putting reuse to the test. Some are proudly circular, while others are experimenting with ways to cut single-use waste, for example, with:

• Setting reuse goals across cafes and having friendly competitions each week of Siptember
• Tiny Habits challenges to help people remember their cups
• Loan-cup libraries for those who forget
• Quick espresso tables, Italian-style, for drink-in moments
• Corporate engagement programs to shift workplace culture
• And, always, a warm welcome for anyone bringing their own (BYO) cup or container

Each September, social enterprise STREAT brings some fun energy and friendly competition, celebrating reuse champions, sharing tips, and moving the dial together.

In the last few years, the campaign has become open source, with a toolkit to help anyone join in. STREAT has since been joined by cafés and councils in Melbourne, as well as gaining interest from Hong Kong and the UK.

Celebrating reuse champions

This year, STREAT’s key theme for Siptember is putting behavioural science into action. Researchers call it pluralistic ignorance, the mistaken belief that most people don’t care as much about reuse. In reality, many people do, we just do not always realise how many others are already on board. And we know that

“people are more likely to do something positive when it comes to sustainable behaviours if they can see other people care.”

That’s why in 2025 our Siptember theme is: celebrating reuse champions.

We’re making the invisible visible. Cafés, work groups and individuals, will be sharing how they reuse cups and containers to show there’s a movement of people working towards making reusables the normal. And to capture it all, we are creating a Champions of Change community video.

Want to be part of the Champions of Change community video?

Snap a photo of yourself, your café crew, or your customers with a reusable cup, dish, or container. Send it to us at greenteam(at)streat(dot)com.au and join the celebration.

Hear Juli from the University of Melbourne talk about how she learnt she could use reusable containers for butter, meat and fish.

Beyond cups: containers and habits that stick

Pictured: Meals with Impact has taken part in Siptember in past years

Siptember has always been about cups, but in recent years we have widened the circle. Reusable containers and dishes are now part of the story.

At Queen Victoria Market, our friends and partners at B-Alternative are trialling their dish reuse system. Customers borrow, return, and reuse, just like a library.

So far, they have saved more than 25,000 dishes from landfill not to mention the organic waste that gets saved when the plates get collected.

“We’ve been blown away by the response. Traders are saving money on disposables, customers are loving the convenience, and it proves reuse is not a fringe idea, it is the future of hospitality.” – Lachie, B-Alternative Circularity Manager

And to help those habits stick, Siptember will also feature a Tiny Habits challenge, making small, repeatable changes that are easy to keep up all year round.

What cafés are saying

Siptember is not just good for the planet, it is good for business.

Cafés report:

• stronger community vibes
• loyal customers
• and plenty of positive buzz.

Why join in?

If you run a café, Siptember is your chance to:

• Show customers you care, people notice
• Get free promotion through STREAT socials and campaign partners
• Be part of a network of cafés, councils, corporates, and community groups
• Have some fun with it, create a cup wall, give high-fives, share your wins
  

And if you are a keen bean:

• Your coffee tastes better without the guilt
• You are part of a growing, global movement
• You help normalise reuse in your local café

Shared wins

Last year, Siptember won the Tidy Towns and Cities award in the Education and Behaviour Change category, a nod to what we have all achieved together.

But awards are not the point. The point is cafés and customers everywhere, proving that small acts, when shared, add up to big change.

Pictured: (left) the work team at Dixon Appointments celebrated their participation. (right) STREAT won the Tidy Towns and Cities award for Education and Behaviour Change Campaigns in 2024

How to get involved

For keen beans:
1. BYO reusable cup or container
2. Support cafés that are part of Siptember
3. Send us your photo for the Champions of Change video
4. Spread the word

How to get involved

Siptember is one month, but the habits it sparks are for the long haul. From STREAT cafés in Melbourne to councils in Victoria, from small teams overseas to stallholders at QVM, the message is the same: reuse is possible, practical, and joyful.

Together, we can turn the tide on single-use waste, one sip, one bite, and one smile at a time.