Jo Morley, head of marketing and campaigns for plastic pollution campaigning organisation City to Sea, said: “As we return to workplaces, school or set off on new adventures at college or university it is crucial that people are given the choice to reduce waste by allowing them to opt for a reusable cup for their hot drink, or to fill up their water bottle.
“With Zero Waste Week at the beginning of September it is the perfect time for caterers in workplaces, hospitals and education settings to start accept reusables again.
“We know that it can be done safely and City to Sea have provided the guidance to help caterers as they start to reopen.”
The call comes following a public statement made in June by more than 100 scientists confirming reusables are perfectly safe to use.
City to Sea, which is also behind the award-winning Refill campaign, has also provided practical guidance for catering businesses on safely accepting reusable cups and bottles.
In June, Costa Coffee, the UK’s largest coffee chain, and a number of forward-thinking independent businesses started accepting reusables again following the launch of the #ContactlessCoffee campaign.
They were followed last week by Starbucks, which announced it would now be accepting reusables cups in store again. Both Starbucks and Costa are members of the REPEAT Reuse Working Group, which was set up in May by City to Sea.
Morley added that major chains such as Pret, Greggs, McDonalds and Caffé Nero have not set a date to reverse the reusable bans they put in place in March.
“These businesses make up a huge share of takeaway sales within the UK. By refusing to let their customers choose to reuse, they are contributing to a mountain of completely avoidable waste.”
In the UK, we make our way through an estimated 2.5bn disposable coffee cups a year and more than 7.7bn plastic water bottles; the impact of these businesses continuing to ban reusables and requiring their customers to use single-use disposable packaging is contributing to plastic pollution and could increase the pressure on already stretched councils and waste collectors.