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Independent coffee chain bans disposable cups from all its stores from June to tackle plastic waste

<em>Boston Tea Party are banning disposable coffee cups entirely (PA)</em>
Boston Tea Party are banning disposable coffee cups entirely (PA)

An independent coffee chain is set to ban disposable coffee cups entirely in an effort to tackle plastic waste.

Boston Tea Party, which says takeaway hot drinks are worth 5.2.% of its total turnover of £19.8 million, will enforce the ban from June 1.

The company, which has 21 cafes across the South West and the Midlands, is asking customers to make the move to reusable cups, either by bringing their own, taking advantage of a cup loan scheme or buying one in store.

<em>The store is asking customers to bring their own cups or take part in their loan scheme (Boston Tea Party)</em>
The store is asking customers to bring their own cups or take part in their loan scheme (Boston Tea Party)

There is growing pressure to tackle the 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups the UK gets through every year, with almost all of them incinerated, exported or sent to landfill.

Sam Roberts, owner and manager director of Boston Tea Party, said: ‘Lots of coffee chains are making pledges about how they plan to tackle cup waste in the future. But theirs is a future which is too far away.

‘We need to stop right now. I’d stop tomorrow but I think it’s only fair to give our loyal customers and fantastic team a month to get used to the idea.’

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Boston Tea Party said it brought in 25p discount for customers bringing their own cups in 2016, but has only seen a 2.8% take-up of the offer.

Mr Roberts said the move to phase out disposable cups aimed to show other firms that ‘to make a difference, big change is needed’, and his team believed the only sustainable option was to reduce and reuse, rather than recycle.

He added: ‘We dream of a future where our children marvel at the fact that pre-2018 we would regularly use a cup once and throw it away.

<em>There is growing pressure to tackle the 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups the UK gets through every year (Boston Tea Party)</em>
There is growing pressure to tackle the 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups the UK gets through every year (Boston Tea Party)

‘The discarded cup could then take centuries to decompose. When you consider it in those terms, it really is senseless.’

A number of chains serving takeaway hot drinks have recently announced moves to curb disposable cup waste, including Costa Coffee which pledged to recycle as many as it hands out by 2020, and Waitrose, which plans to phase them out by the autumn.