"I've noticed with people coming in they've been holding off and holding off and then today they've brought their own cup, they have just been waiting for the day."
Disposable cup free cafes are becoming more common in larger cities like Wellington and Auckland, and Anderson said it would be great to see Hawke's Bay catching up.
"I want us all to work together.
"If we don't make a change now we are just sitting on the sidelines while another 300 million coffee cups go into landfill."
She said her advice to other cafes would be to research options, find solutions and then take the plunge.
While Cartel HQ is understood to be the first cafe to completely ban disposable cups in Hawke's Bay, other cafes are already considering the move.
Head of Coffee at Eat, Drink, Share Hawke's Bay, Dayna Joblin , said the four cafes under the organisation's umbrella will be going disposable cup free at the start of next year.
She said they are already encouraging customers at Opera Kitchen in Hastings, Albion Canteen in Napier and F.G. Smith Eatery and The Picnic in Ahuriri, to bring keep cups, by asking customers ordering a take-away coffee if they have one.
"It's trying to pop it in their head that very shortly it's going to be what's going to be having to happen."
She said they were already doing a lot to reduce waste across the four cafes, and at Opera Kitchen and F.G. Smith they only use between 100 and 150 disposable cups per week.