Northern Rivers company behind reusable cup revolution brewing across Australia

WHEN Jonas Benedikt moved to Australia with his partner Alana Nicol in 2018, he was shocked by the amount of waste generated by cafés.

German-born Benedikt had spent years running cafés in his homeland, where legislation requires venues to offer alternatives to single-use cups and deposit-return systems are common.

“When I came to Australia, I realised there was nothing like that here,” he said. “Most cafés still relied on compostable cups that don’t actually get composted. I saw how much single-use packaging was costing cafés — financially and environmentally — and decided to adapt the proven European model to fit Australia’s café culture and local manufacturing.”

Benedikt and his partner founded Good Reusables in Mullumbimby, the company behind Good Cup, in 2023.

The organisation offers Australia’s first locally made, deposit-return reuse system for cafés, hotels, events and towns. Customers pay a small refundable deposit of $3 to borrow a reusable cup, which can be returned anywhere within the Good Cup network.

The cups are manufactured in Melbourne from high-grade, fully recyclable polypropylene — a safe and durable material designed to withstand hundreds of uses.

“When they finally reach the end of life, we collect and recycle them back into new cups locally, keeping the whole system closed-loop,” Benedikt said.

The company provides reusable hot and cold drink cups in multiple sizes, as well as matching lids and a cup display stand, with reusable containers for takeaway meals scheduled to be added in 2026.

 

“Everything is Australian-made, dishwasher-safe, and designed to be reused hundreds of times,” Benedikt said. “We also provide marketing and training materials for our partner cafes.”

More than 20 businesses have already signed up across Australia, including many in the Northern Rivers. Local partners include Three Blue Ducks at The Farm in Byron Bay, Bangalow General Store, Timbo Mullum, Rise Café in Lennox Head, Ballina RSL, Swish Café and La Romana in Ballina.

“We’re now supplying reuse systems for cafés, hotels, events, airports and councils across Australia, with international collaborations also underway,” Benedikt said.

Benedikt has been particularly encouraged by towns such as Bermagui on the NSW South Coast, which has gone completely single-use-cup-free, saving more than 200,000 disposable cups and tens of thousands of dollars in packaging costs each year.

“We’re also working with several councils to support entire regions going single-use-free,” he said.

The next meeting for businesses interested in removing single-use cups entirely will be held at Ballina RSL in February.

For more information, visit goodcup.au