WANGIM Cup

We are working in partnership with local cafes to reduce single use coffee cups through the WANGIM Cup project.

As part of this program, we provide WANGIM cafes free of charge with reusable cups that they lend to customers through a ‘Borrow → Use → Return’ model. The aim of this program to reduce plastic waste, change customer behaviour and build community among local residents. Every cup counts and helps us in our sustainability and circularity journey.

The project is one response to our community’s waste crisis and recognises the need to nurture and protect the land that we live on.

How does it work?

If you order a coffee and don’t have a reusable cup with you, simply borrow a WANGIM cup from a participating cafe. It’s no extra charge and all you need to do is return the cup to a participating cafe.

All WANGIM cups are washed and stored using Council-approved, COVID-safe processes.

Which cafes are part of the WANGIM project?

For a full list of participating cafes, visit the WANGIM website.

How do you join?

Interested Glen Eira cafes can sign up to the project and receive reusable WANGIM coffee cups and associated promotional material by emailing sustainablebusiness@gleneira.vic.gov.au and also going to the Facebook page.

What does WANGIM mean?

“Wangim” is the local Woiwurrung word for “boomerang” and has been used with permission from the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung Cultural Corporation.

The word “wangim” captures the idea of a cycle of reusable cups that are borrowed and returned. It is also a deliberate decision to begin to better emphasise the local Indigenous language in our shared, local lexicon.

Where can I learn more?

In Darebin they currently have 25 local WANGIM Cup cafes and have diverted almost 70,000 cups from landfill, saving over 220 kilos of plastic, 1,500 kgs of timber and 2,500 kgs of CO2 emissions.

Watch these two short videos on Rhubarb Rhubarb Organics and Outer Circle Social Club to see how WANGIM Cup works.

The WANGIM Cup project supports the work that we are doing under the Glen Eira Circular Economy Plan 2022–2026.

For more information about the program, visit https://www.wangim.com.au/