Waitrose to ditch coffee cups with plastic lining at all stores

THROWAWAY coffee cups will be removed from all Waitrose stores in a drive to reduce plastic waste.

Waitrose said the move will prevent 2million cups given away as part of its myWaitrose loyalty scheme from being thrown away every year.

Customers will still be able to get free coffee or tea from selfservice machines but will have to use a reusable cup instead.

Disposable cups will first be removed at nine stores from April 30 before the scheme goes nationwide in autumn.

The problem with the cups is that they have a plastic coating inside which means they cannot easily be recycled with other paper waste. As a result, most are thrown away then buried in landfill or burned.

According to the Parliamentary environmental audit committee, 2. billion cups are thrown away in the UK every year. The Government is now considering introducing a ‘latte levy’ to discourage their use.

Waitrose’s decision is the latest victory for the Mail’s longrunning Turn the Tide on Plastic campaign, which has helped lead to a p levy on plastic bags and a ban on microbeads.

Tor Harris, of Waitrose, said the supermarket was ‘confident the majority of customers will support the [scheme’s] environmental benefits’.

As part of the changes, myWaitrose members will not be able to claim their free hot drink in the chain’s 180 in-store cafes, to avoid customers without a reusable cup putting increased pressure on them. Instead, members who buy a tea or coffee in a cafe will get a choice of free or reduced-price food.

Volunteers at a ‘spring clean’ by campaign group Surfers Against Sewage at Montrose beach, Angus, yesterday pulled 49 bin liners containing plastic from the sands, 3 of which were full of ‘avoidable plastics’ – items which did not need to be made from the material.