Starbucks Set to Introduce a 5p Charge of Disposable Coffee Cups

Starbucks Set to Introduce a 5p Charge
on Disposable Coffee Cups

Starbucks are set to introduce a 5p charge to paper cups across their 950 UK stores later this month. The company trialled the charge for 3 months in London and found that there was a 4% increase in customers bringing their own reusable cups into stores, as well as a huge 126% increase in people purchasing its reusable cups. Customers who bring their own cups into stores get 25p off their drink of choice.

Starbucks say that the results of the trial have been encouraging and that they’re excited to roll the scheme out across England. They expressed delight that employees and customers appear to be on board and that they hope that the 5p charge on cups will make customers rethink their plastic usage, just as the plastic bag charge did.

Around 2.5 billion paper coffee cups are thrown away every year in the UK and Starbucks is one of many companies who are starting to take action to recycle and reuse many more of them. Starbucks have in-store recycling bins for cups to help improve recycling levels.

Funds raised from the charge will support recycling schemes

The money collected from the 5p charge will be used to support recycling schemes across England, especially those run by the environmental charity Hubbub, which focus on changing behaviours around recycling.

Starbucks was one of the companies who were involved in Hubbub’s Square Mile Challenge last year, which led to over 4 million disposable coffee cups being recycled in London. A similar scheme took place in Manchester, and cups were recycled to make bird feeders, plant pot holders, and chalk boards.

Hubbub’s founder said that people are very much aware of the problems that are being caused by the use of single- use plastics and added that a 5p charge is a good catalyst for behaviour change. The charity plan to come up with more ways to encourage people to use reusable cups.

The food and drink industry rolls up its sleeves

Starbucks are just one of the companies that’s rolling up its sleeves to get involved in disposable coffee cup recycling. Businesses in the industry are keen to see disposable cups being recycled as successfully as drinks cartons, which are now collected by 92% of local authorities in the UK. Over 400 recycling points are being installed across the country for disposable cups.

Starbucks have also pledged £7 million to develop a fully recyclable and compostable cup and they’re also aiming to eliminate single-use plastic straws from their operations by 2020.

A lid with no straw for iced coffee, tea and espressos has already been introduced in 150 stores across the world, and the company are also set to introduce straws made from paper or compostable plastic. As well as disposable coffee cups, plastic straws have been singled out as being terrible for the environment, so McDonald’s, Costa, Wagamama and Nando’s have jumped on the bandwagon and have begun phasing them out.