Australian Open set to reduce plastic waste by 400 kg

Sustainability Victoria is serving up reusable cups at Australian Open 2025 to reduce single-use plastic waste and encourage people to reuse.

Tennis fans will be able to sip sustainably during AO 2025 with 38,000 reusable cups from Sustainability Victoria replacing single-use cups in selected bars around the precinct.

It’s projected 50,000 single-use cups will be avoided at the tournament, equivalent to 400 kg of plastic. Future reuse is set to multiply the savings.

“This is an exciting opportunity to reduce single-use plastic waste at one of Australia’s most iconic and popular events,” Sustainability Victoria’s CEO Matt Genever said. “We know people want to do the right thing by the environment and through this partnership we’re enabling and encouraging reuse behaviour so tennis fans can reduce their carbon footprint.

“Adoption of reusables, particularly in an event setting, is the only way forward if we’re to win the war on waste. Tennis Australia’s support is invaluable in helping us make no waste the new normal.”

The AO 2025 reusable cups have been produced by Melbourne-based bettercup, a Sustainability Victoria grant recipient that works with events and venues to eliminate single-use cup waste. The cups will be washed onsite by a team from Green My Plate, a social enterprise that provides plastic-free food and beverage alternatives for functions and events.

“Sustainability Victoria is bringing together key players in Victoria’s circular economy to design out waste and advance sustainability in sport,” Genever said.

With a record attendance of more than one million fans at AO 2024, Tennis Australia is looking for further ways to increase its sustainability.

“Reducing our environmental impact is an important part of future-proofing tennis,” said Matthew Nicholas, Tennis Australia’s director of sustainability.

“We’re building on the single-use reductions we’ve achieved over the past few years at the AO. In 2025, we’re projecting that the AO reusables program will prevent waste of more than 100,000 single-use cups, plates and bowls, which is more than triple what we achieved just two years ago.

“We’re also collecting and separating other hard-to-recycle materials at the tournament that we can’t substitute for reusables, from ball canisters to the players’ racquet string offcuts,” he said.

In addition to providing reusable cups, Sustainability Victoria will support Tennis Australia on its future sustainability strategy as Victoria transitions to a circular economy with less waste and emissions.

Image: Supplied