When you take a sip of fresh, hot coffee from Windmill Café at Bargara or The Beach Mill at Nielson Park, take a minute to think about what will happen to your cup when you are done.
The green-thinking business traded in recyclable cups for compostable ones, becoming a trial site for Endup Cup’s collection station, which pre-sorts the cups from their recyclable lids.
The cups are then taken to Green Solutions Wide Bay, who turn them into compost which is used on their farms, growing the sweet potatoes that are served in the café.
It is just one of the ways the café has made important changes to become more sustainable – years ahead of the single-use plastic ban that came into effect on September 1.
All drinks stocked come in glass bottles. Single use plastics were replaced with bio or recyclable alternatives. Any plastics needed, such as bin liners, are biodegradable. Anything that could be replaced, was.
The change has been driven in large part by young team members who are always questioning if there is a better way to do things. So great is the Windmill team’s passion for a sustainable way of life, the movement spilled over into the community in 2019 with a beach clean-up program, where buckets along the beach could be filled with rubbish and traded in for a free gelato
Windmill Café Bargara 12 See Street, Bargara
The Beach Mill 2 Courtice Avenue, Bargara
www.windmillbargara.com.au