Passengers from cruise ships would often not have reusable cups with them when they called in at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, council chief executive Sandy Graham pointed out.
"Where we run commercial businesses out of places like Toitū, we can’t run a successful cafe there if we require them not to use single-use cups," she said.
Ms Graham said the cups were not displayed prominently and the council encouraged uptake of reusable cups.
In March 2024, the council directed its chief executive to make the Civic Centre, Dunedin Public Library, Toitū and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery free of single-use cups by the end of that year.
Council-owned Dunedin Venues Management was asked to stop its venues having the cups by the end of this year.
In a November update, the council said its waste minimisation and property teams were working on a project to improve recycling in the Civic Centre, including through a library of reusable cups for staff.
Changes had been made for council-run events and facilities were continuing to work towards being free of single-use cups, the council said.
Cr Mickey Treadwell asked about obstacles to the policy and timeframes at a council meeting last week.
Ms Graham said changing to reusable cups had largely happened, but there was a commercial tension.
"Cruise ship passengers, for example, often don’t come with their own, but we want a cafe in Toitū."
