Reducing and removing sugary drinks

Sugary drinks (or sugar-sweetened beverages) include all non-alcoholic, water-based drinks with added sugar. This includes:

• non-diet soft drinks
• energy drinks
• fruit drinks (not fruit juice)
• sports drinks
• cordials

They are also classified as RED (Limit), according to the Healthy Choices guidelines.

Milk-based drinks and >99% fruit juices with no added sugar are not considered sugary drinks. Diet drinks and artificially sweetened drinks are also not considered sugary drinks.

Speak to management to get support for the planned changes. Present them with information on why your organisation should address sugary drinks.

You could outline:

• the duty of care that your organisation has for the wellbeing of its staff, customers and/or visitors
• the benefits to your organisation by reducing or removing them
• the benefits for your organisation in creating a healthier food and drink environment

You’ll also need to engage the people responsible for sourcing and supplying foods and drinks (such as contract managers, retail outlet managers, vending suppliers or catering providers) to learn more about any contracts or agreements related to the provision of drinks in your organisation.

Don’t be afraid to trial things for a few weeks or months to see what works best for your organisation before making a permanent change.

Reducing or removing sugary drinks will be most successful when you provide customers with affordable and attractive healthier options.

There are a number of ways you can support customers and staff to make healthier drink choices by changing how drinks are placed, priced and promoted.

Some ‘nudges’ you could trial in retail outlets include:

• Reducing the amount of RED drinks in drink fridges, while increasing the amount of GREEN
• Removing RED drinks from display completely, displaying mostly GREEN drinks
• Increasing the price of RED drinks, and subsidising the price of GREEN drinks
• Including GREEN drinks in healthy meal deals