The way Bristolians get their caffeine fix is about to undergo a massive change across the city with the launch of a reusable coffee cup. Environmental group, City To Sea, has launched the Refill Return Cup which could stop a whopping 2.5 million single-use coffee cups a year being dumped in bins across the city.
The Bristol based group has partnered with coffee shops across the city to stock the reusable cup, which can be picked up and dropped off with participating shops with the aim to eliminate single-use coffee cups.
According to City to Sea, more than 2.5 billion takeaway coffee cups are used and thrown away each year in the UK, which is a shocking 10,000 every two minutes. The group estimates that if one in ten Bristolians used the Refill Return Cup, that would reduce single use-cups by 46,000 every week - or 2.5 million cups a year.
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Jane Martin, head of development at City to Sea said: “We can’t keep going as we are with park bins overflowing and our Harbourside littered with floating single-use coffee cups. We need to do things differently.
“After years of research, we are really delighted to be launching our Refill Return Cup which completely eliminates the need to carry a reusable cup with you. Instead you can pick up one of our reusable cups anywhere in the city and then drop it off at any participating coffee shop."
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All the partnering coffee shops are mapped on the Refill app. Residents can get their takeaway coffee and tea in a reusable cup and have 14 days to return the cup, either from where they borrowed it or to any other participating coffee shop.
Hannah Stuurman, director of transformation and stakeholder relations at Bristol Waste welcomed the scheme. She said: “It prioritises reuse and the circular economy in Bristol. Driving down the use of single-use plastic materials is essential to its reducing impact on the environment and creating new reusable solutions for residents.
“Fewer littered coffee cups on our streets is a fantastic bonus for us at Bristol Waste. We’re looking forward to seeing the effects of the scheme grow across the city.
Marvin Rees, mayor of Bristol said: “A year ago, I set City to Sea the challenge of making sure that any solution to plastic pollution is accessible to the whole city and they’re rising to this challenge. We’ve now got coffee shops from across the city where you can borrow and return the Refill Return Cups.”
The Refill campaign has been described as connecting people "to places they can eat, drink and shop without the pointless packaging", City to Sea is a not-for-profit organisation that campaigns to stop plastic pollution at source.
