Just about everyone orders a coffee from their local barista, whether it’s a flat white between meetings or an iced oat latte after Pilates. Maybe two if it’s that kind of morning. But have you ever stopped to think about where the coffee waste goes?

For years, our focus has been on the cup. Choosing a recyclable one, or swapping single use takeaway cups to KeepCups, and patting ourselves on our backs for being sustainable. Yes every little bit helps, but the real waste story doesn’t sit on top, it sits underneath.

Every espresso shot in Australia leaves behind an enormous 75 million kilos of coffee waste which heads straight to land fill each year. Once dumped, those grounds release methane, a greenhouse gas around 30 times more harmful than CO. 

Enter Reground a sustainability initiative and Sydney coffee roasters Single O who are helping shift the conversation. Their new Giving a Puck program is turning coffee waste into something that is good for the plant, collecting those leftover grounds from local cafes, and repurposing them into compost for community gardens. 

In its first 18 months, Giving a Puck will upcycle over 110,000 kilos of coffee waste, about the weight of the Manly Ferry, and by 2030, Reground aims to collect 4 million kilo annually in NSW – that’s enough to full Bondi Icebergs over 3 times. 

“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.”

It’s a reminder that sustainability doesn’t need to be a sacrifice, it can look like a collaboration that gives back to the community. For Sydney cafes, Giving a Puck isn’t about waste, it’s about refining what good coffee means. 

Because when it comes to our caffeine habits, maybe it’s time we cared as much about what happens after the shot as we do about what’s in the cup.

The first wave of cafes and restaurants are already on board, with the program set to open more broadly across Sydney from April 2026. It’s early days, but for any curious, Reground has more details on the project in Sydney.