First-of-its-kind idea helping Cardiff bin disposable cups
A PIONEERING scheme allowing coffee drinkers to borrow and return reusable cups has prevented 8,000 single-use cups from ending up in landfill in just four months.
That’s the equivalent of preventing 104kg of plastic from being thrown away.
To celebrate, the 20 participating cafes across the city offered a free hot drink to the first 50 customers who used the scheme this morning.
“I don’t agree with buying plastic cups every day, but carrying a reusable one around all day is a pain,” said Emma Renton, 21, customer at Da Coffi in Central Square.
“I like that I can come in here and get a fresh cup, and let someone else deal with the clean up.”
Da Coffi, which has been part of the scheme since its release date, gave out 19 free cups of coffee within two hours of opening.
“We have a lot of regulars here, so we have been telling them about the free coffees, we have already had five new sign ups, it is such a good incentive to being more sustainable,” said Rosie, a staff member at Da Coffi.
The ‘Refill Return Cup’ allows customers to get their daily coffee in a reusable, sustainably sourced cup, from any of the venues involved.
The initiative runs through a downloadable app, ‘Refill’, where staff members of the café have to scan a unique QR code, which matches the customer to one of the reusable cups.
The customer then has up to two weeks to return the cup to any of the participating venues, where it will be washed and then reused again.
The scheme was introduced to Cardiff in October last year as a pilot phase, which ends next month.
Since then, more than 20 businesses across Cardiff have joined the initiative, offering customers the chance to use a reusable cup without needing to buy their own.
Some of the businesses included on the scheme are:
- Pettigrew Bakeries (Various)
- Da Coffi (Central Square)
- Waterloo Tea (Wyndham Arcade)
- Bird & Blend (Royal Arcade)
- Kin & Ilk (Capital Quarter)
“Being part of this pilot was an absolute no brainer for us as, it is clearly the most sustainable option,” said David Le Masurier, co-founder of Pettigrew Bakeries.
“Before the scheme we had only a handful of people who brought in their own reusable cups, now we have had to buy a massive box to collect all the empty reusable cups from the scheme at the end of the day,” said Tam, a staff member at Da Coffi.
This week, two new independent cafés – Tidy Kitchen (Museum Place) and Suburban Coffee Shop (Rhiwbina) – also joined the scheme.
“We’re incredibly excited to see the Cardiff Refill Return Cup pilot scheme going from strength to strength, and to be welcoming two new businesses to help make an even more positive impact,” said Carolyn Brownell, executive director of FOR Cardiff, which runs the initiative.
FOR Cardiff said that more than 2.5 billion takeaway coffee cups are disposed of each year, which is enough to stretch around the world five and a half times.
“We definitely use more of the reusable cups in a day than disposable cups now, we have only had to do one order of disposable cups since Christmas,” said Rosie at Da Coffi.
‘City to Sea’, the environmental non-profit organisation, also helped develop the scheme and campaigns to reduce plastic pollution.
“Four months on from the launch of the Refill Return Cup Scheme, thousands of cups have been prevented from littering the city’s parks or ending up in landfill,” ,” said George Clark, programme lead at City to Sea.
“Cardiff’s businesses and residents have risen to the challenge – and we expect other cities to follow in their footsteps.”
The cups, made by a Cornish company, are made with recycled materials that are designed to be washed and reused up to 1,000 times before being downcycled at the end of their lifespan.
This year, the Welsh Government aims to recycle, reuse or compost up to 70% of its waste in a bid to become a ‘zero-waste nation’ by 2050.
