Today is International Coffee Day so our Campaigns and Innovation Manager Heather McLaughlin is taking the opportunity to invite you to grab a cuppa (in a reusable cup) and read a little more about our single-use cup consumption habits, the challenges and some of the solutions that could make a difference.
We all enjoy a hot or cold drink on the go – me included. But what many of us don’t realise is that our unsustainable consumption of ‘throw-away’ items is one of the primary drivers of the global climate and nature crises and Scotland’s litter emergency.
By switching to reusable alternatives where possible, and making sure that we recycle what's left, we can continue to enjoy the things we love, whilst reducing the harm to our environment and communities.
Almost half of the Scottish population has reported seeing single-use hot and cold drink cups as litter very or somewhat often, according to public polling we commissioned recently.
We’ve been working through a number of campaigns and partnerships to change single-use consumption habits to help Scotland become litter free and have a circular economy.
We know from our Cup Movement® Campaign the challenges of recycling single-use cups and encouraging people to switch to reusable cups.
But that hasn’t stopped us trying, and learning. We’ve trialled recycling campaigns using the #TakeItBack message in Glasgow and Dundee, where we worked with major retailers to encourage people to take their cups back to one of 121 participating stores for recycling, regardless of brand, ensuring the cups were properly recycled and not sent to landfill, or littered. This saw the total number of single-use cups in the city centre bins decrease by 6% over the campaign period.
And, with funding from the Bring It Back Fund through Hubbub UK and Starbucks, our Cup Movement ® in the Highlands utilised technology from Vytal to encourage customers to borrow and return cups from participating businesses near the route of the NC500. A total of 1,051 cups were checked out by 269 users, with a 92% return rate. There was also a 27% increase in customers using their own reusable cup!
And our ongoing trials as part of the Highland Community Waste Partnership include:
- #ChooseToReuse – a returnable packaging pilot which widens from the lessons used on borrowing single use cups and encourages businesses to trial returnable food packaging; and
- Cup Box for the Highlands, which we are piloting with the National Cup Recycling Scheme to make it easier for people to recycle single-use cups in communities where infrastructure is limited.
We were pleased to see that The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 gave Ministers the power to require suppliers to charge for single-use cups. And, we’re delighted the Scottish Government’s consultation ‘Charging for Single-Use Disposable Beverage Cups’ – includes proposals for a charge for all single-use cups used for hot and cold drinks, no matter whether it is paper, plastic or compostable.
Polling we did in the Highlands highlighted that almost 40% felt that charge on single-use cups would be effective in increasing the use of reusable cups. So, there is evidence that a charge will help reduce the numbers used, and discarded, daily - encouraging people to carry a reusable alternative.
A charge is not a solution in itself. We need investment in reuse and recycling infrastructure. And there is an opportunity for systems which help businesses, and their customers, move away from single-use cups in a way that is convenient for all, to be funded through a reinvestment of any charge collected.
Ultimately, we have a responsibility to do more to change our habits, and we could all chose to reuse more when buying a drink on-the-go.
So, this International Coffee Day, if you need a caffeine fix, please #ChooseToReuse.
