All cafes on Macrossan St will have the blue cups, though they will have a staged rollout throughout 2025. They are free to use. Simply ask for your drink in a blue cup, and either bring it back to any participating cafe, or drop it in one of our distinctive 'pods'.

Cafes will accept the cup back, or you can drop them in one of our 'drop pods'. There is no need to wash them before returning.

Cups returned to cafes are washed on site at the cafe.

Cups returned to a pod are collected by volunteers, and taken to the Port Douglas Neighbourhood centre, where there are hygienically washed and sanitised using a commercial grade cup dishwasher.

When dry, the cups are hygienically packed into sealed containers, and delivered back to local cafes for reuse.

'Douglas Chooses to Reuse' is a pilot program to trial how a reusable cup program can operate in a Qld community, what the uptake is, and to gather feedback from users of the system.

Ultimately, the program aims to form the basis of a model that can be scaled across Qld.

The program is funded by the Qld State Government (Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation) and run by the Boomerang Alliance. It is supported by Douglas Shire Council.

We rolled out the first stage of the program in mid-June 2025, initially to six cafes, and will be expanding to more cafes over 2025.

The program launches in February 2026. We'll accept sign-ups now until March 31, 2026. Early registration helps us plan our year to give you the best support.