Abigail Forsyth Awarded OAM for Outstanding Service to Sustainable Design

KeepCup was never about awards and accolades. It was a simple idea to outperform the disposable coffee cup and reduce waste, all while enjoying the everyday pleasures that make life a little more sparkly. The reward of knowing you were doing something, even something small, for the greater good, which is worth more than any pat on the back or trinket trophy.

That said, every now and then an award comes along that's well worth celebrating.

The Honour

Abigail Forsyth, co-founder and Managing Director of KeepCup, has been announced as a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division for outstanding service to sustainable design.

The OAM is one of the highest honours an Australian citizen can receive — awarded to individuals who have dedicated their work to something beyond themselves. Abi joins environmentalists, artists, athletes, and former Prime Ministers in the Order. View the official citation >

Where It Started

In 2008, when the first KeepCup prototype was made, reusable cups didn't exist as a category. The concept had to be explained. So did single-use. The War on Waste hadn't aired. Blue Planet 2 hadn't aired. Most people gave no thought to the packaging their coffee came in.

KeepCup was the first barista-standard reusable cup in the world — designed to fit espresso machines, match takeaway sizes, and work seamlessly in the café without a conversation. Elegant, considered design that didn't announce itself as a mission statement. It just worked better than the alternative.

That's the distinction that has always set KeepCup apart: a genuine origin, not a retrofit.

Design as the Mechanism

Sustainable design is not aesthetic. It's functional — the idea that an object can change behaviour not by asking people to care more, but by being better to use than the thing it replaces.

That principle runs through everything KeepCup makes. The cup that fits the machine. The lid that opens one-handed. The bowl that makes you feel like you've got your act together. The parts that replace instead of requiring a whole new product. Design in service of reuse — not the other way around.

KeepCup was a founding B Corp certified company in 2014 and continues to monitor and improve its performance in environmental stewardship. View KeepCup's B Corp profileView KeepCup's 1% for the Planet membership. Held to a higher standard by both.

What the OAM Recognises

More than fifteen years of building a category that didn't exist, growing it into a global movement, and doing it through design and messaging. Driving awareness of the single-use plastics problem by presenting a compelling design that drove behaviour change.

Billions of disposable cups removed from the waste stream. A business built on the conviction that people make better choices when the better choice is also the better object.

The OAM recognises that design — when it's done with rigour and purpose — is a form of service. And that the everyday act of reaching for a reusable cup is part of something larger than any one product.Something worth supporting > Shop the Range.