Coffee industry gives a puck for the planet
Media Release 28 October,2025
Single O partners with sustainability trailblazer Reground to introduce the state’s first dedicated coffee waste diversion program
Pioneering specialty coffee roaster Single O is leading the charge in bringing sustainable coffee to New South Wales, partnering with sustainability innovator Reground to launch the state’s first coffee waste diversion program. Through the brands’ collaborative ‘Giving a Puck’ campaign, Single O and Reground are tackling one of the industries biggest overlooked waste streams -used coffee grounds, and creating a more sustainable future for coffee.
This program will enable cafes and restaurants to participate in an easy-to-access coffee waste collection service, helping businesses significantly reduce their environmental footprint. A number of leading Sydney cafes have already signed on, including Happyfield, Soulmate Coffee, Superfreak, The Bakery on Glenayr, Three Blue Ducks and Bills, demonstrating strong early momentum and industry-wide appetite to shift towards a circular coffee model. Zero-waste roaster Kua Coffee has also come on board as a supporting partner, covering waste collection for all of its customers, including The Commons, Optiver and Vivcourt Trading.
“Spent grounds are the coffee industry’s hidden waste problem. We think about takeaway cup waste but we tend not to think about the spent coffee puck from our morning latte that goes to landfill,” says Mike Brabant, CEO, Single O.“We’re riled up to finally be fixing it, and excited to help lead the change towards a circular coffee future.”
In the first five years, Single O and Reground expect to divert an estimated 3 million kgs of coffee from landfill (equivalent to 85,000,000 cups of coffee), preventing hundreds of thousands of kilograms of carbon emissions and transforming coffee waste into a valuable resource. Under the partnership, Reground will collect the spent coffee grounds from customers, and divert it back to the local community for numerous beneficial uses, including growing food for local community members.
This program builds on Single O and Reground’s successful partnership in Victoria which launched in 2023, where they led an industry-first product stewardship model. With strong results in Victoria and now momentum in NSW, the partners will roll the program out nationally, creating a movement of circular coffee across Australia.”Coffee waste isn’t just a by-product – it’s a valuable resource. Responsible disposal is an essential, yet often overlooked, part of the craft of making great coffee,” says Mike Brabant,CEO, Single O.
“Giving a Puck flips that script – making what happens after the shot central to good coffee, and leading the industry charge to upcycle grounds, close the loop, and create real impact.”
“Our partnership with Reground has already helped us repurpose over 40,000 kgs of coffee waste from our Melbourne cafes over the past two years, preventing more than 88,000 kgs of greenhouse gas emissions, ” says Mike Brabant, CEO, Single O.
“Through our sustainability reporting, we found that under scope three, 30% of Single O’s emissions come from spent grounds, so tackling this has been a key focus. Expanding this initiative to NSW means getting grounds out of landfill, reducing greenhouse gases, and ultimately protecting the beautiful natural environment that our hospitality venues operate in – something we believe the NSW hospitality industry will get behind.”
Ninna Larsen, Founder & Director, Reground says, “People are well aware of the impact of single-use coffee cups, but far fewer realise that coffee ground waste poses an equally significant environmental challenge. When left to decompose in landfill, coffee grounds release harmful greenhouse gases, yet they hold enormous potential as a resource. By expanding this initiative to NSW, we’re not just reducing waste – we’re empowering businesses to take meaningful action and rethink the entire lifecycle of coffee. “
Australia generates over 75,000 tonnes of coffee ground waste annually, with much of it ending up in landfill, where it emits methane, a greenhouse gas approximately 30 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Through Reground’s innovative approach, these grounds are given a second life, repurposed into compost, worm farms, mushroom cultivation, and even sustainable building materials.
Single O and Reground’s growing partnership into NSW marks a significant step in creating a more sustainable, closed-loop coffee system. Through their partnership, businesses in eligible catchment areas can actively contribute to reducing landfill waste and lowering emissions, while also benefiting from a simple, accessible waste collection solution.
Sustainability is at the core of Single O’s operations, underpinning everything from sourcing to service. The roaster’s long-running ‘No Death to Coffee’ mission is a call to arms for the industry to take collective climate action and preserve the future of specialty coffee. From reducing emissions in its supply chain to pioneering low-waste cafe systems, Single O continues to push for change across the board. Its recent certification as a B Corporation further cements this commitment, recognising the company’s dedication to high standards of environmental and social impact.
Launching with some of Sydney’s leading cafés as part of the first wave, the program will scale up and open to all cafés and restaurants across Sydney from 1 April 2026.To find out more about Reground, and to register your business, visit
https://www.reground.com.au/reground-sydney.
About Single O
Single O was established in 2003 as a café & roaster in the back streets of Surry Hills, by a couple of single origin lovers escaping the corporate world. Back then, it was a sea of stale Italian packet coffee & fresh quality beans were hard to come by. And so by necessity & sheer will, Single O led the charge on showcasing single origin coffees, along with third wave roasting and brewing in Sydney. Since then, Single O has grown to supply likeminded, quality-crazed hospos, from their bases in Australia & Japan (since’14). The OG Surry Hills café digs is still cranking & pushing the brewing envelope, more recently introducing the world’s first batch brew bar, Freepour Coffee On Tap. Single O recently opened its second Australian cafe in Newstead,Brisbane in September 2023, marking an exciting milestone in the coffee roaster’s history.
In 2018, Single O introduced its climate-change impact awareness program, No Death to Coffee, which spans across a number of initiatives. As part of the program, Single O was the first roaster to bring climate-resilient F1 variety coffees to customers, giving Aussies a world-exclusive taste of the future of coffee and rallying the industry to sign up to the World Coffee Research. Banning hundreds of thousands of single use cups from landfill through a ban on branded single use cups since the brand’s inception in 2003, they also co-founded The Juggler, which has saved over 100 million two-litre plastic milk bottles from the waste stream.
Also part of their mission to go circular, Single O have partnered with Reground to divert over 40,000 kilos of ground coffee landing in landfill, with 88,000 kg of emissions avoided to date.
Single O is now embarking on the journey to achieve net zero status by 2030, in order to go beyond simply offsetting emissions through other parties and focus on reducing the companies own emissions, through upgrading their 92 existing solar panels, reducing environmental impact at an on premise and agricultural level as well as its fleet.
About Reground
Reground is a certified social enterprise born out of Melbourne’s specialty coffee industry that has become one of Australia’s most progressive and dynamic waste organisations. Reground’s hyper-local resource recycling model is miles away from traditional waste practices and unique in the way that it centres connection, community and the circular economy.
Founded by Ninna Larsen in 2014, Reground has diverted over 2 million kilograms of coffee (and 83,000 kg of chaff) away from landfill so far, supporting hundreds of local businesses to reduce and avoid waste while investing in the health and resilience of their communities. The recipient of the 2022 Melbourne Award for Sustainability, the Reground team is passionately shaping the growth of the circular economy through their waste education, advocacy and resource recovery projects.
