Now Waitrose Has Cut Disposable Coffee Cups – Will Guildford Follow Suit?

Published on: 20 Aug, 2018
Updated on: 21 Aug, 2018

By Laura Neuhaus

Waitrose is now a week into its new no paper cups policy and the government is being urged to introduce a tax to deter their use but most coffee shops in Guildford seem to be slow to respond.

A cross-party committee is recommending that Secretary of State Michael Gove, the MP for Surrey Heath, taxes paper cups at 25p each.

Although it is possible, recycling a disposable coffee cup is very difficult because of its plastic lining. The number of disposable coffee cups thrown away has become an increasing environmental concern.

Waitrose’s solution has been their “KeepCup-only” policy to cut the cup and insist on customer’s bringing their own. So far, Guildford’s other coffee shops seem less resolved.

One of Surrey Hills’ compostable cups

Some are trying to encourage their customers to bring their own by providing a financial incentive. Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Pret A Manger and Caffe Nero all have rewards for customer’s who bring their own re-usable “keepcup”. In Costa and Starbucks you get 25p off, in Pret 50p and Nero gives your loyalty card an extra stamp. Starbucks also charges 5p extra for any disposable cup bought.

Some cafes like the independent Surrey Hills, (Jefferies Passage) and Harris and Hoole (North Street) also give a 20p discount, while Fresco, Muffin Break and Cafe Henry have yet to offer any incentives.

A Fresco’s barista mentioned that the cafe is looking into policies to discourage disposable cup use or use recyclable cups and will soon be implementing them. In contrast, an employee in Muffin Break spoke of his frustration that the company was yet to respond to urges for such policies.

The barista in Cafe Henry explained that it is difficult for smaller businesses to keep their prices competitive whilst encouraging recycling and reusing.

Costa, leading the way in recylable cups?

In terms of having recyclable coffee cups, Costa seems to be the leading the way. The company has announced that it intends to recycle as many cups as it sells by 2020. The Guildford store recycles all the cups left there in a separate waste compartment that is diverted from landfill.

In contrast, Starbucks has invested in the NextGen Cup Challenge that aims to find ways to give its cups a second life as a new product, but the company is yet to put policy into action and start recycling its disposable cups.

Harris and Hoole separates its coffee cups from normal waste for recycling and the Surrey Hills Cafe uses compostable cups. However, Muffin Break’s, Cafe Henry’s and Fresco’s coffee cups all still land in landfill.

Though the town centre’s coffee shops all seem to acknowledge the importance of being committed to the environment, none can match Waitrose’s decisive rejection of the disposable cup. Incentives to bring your own cup are mostly there, though most cafes are struggling to find a solution to the call for recycling disposable cups.

Waitrose’s no more paper cups solution might be the only one that will really work no doubt their competitors are watching with interest.

Responses to Now Waitrose Has Cut Disposable Coffee Cups – Will Guildford Follow Suit?

Wayne Smith Reply

August 20, 2018 at 3:53 pm

Interesting article. A cynic might suggest that Waitrose has also cut its own costs significantly – by no longer having to give away as many free cups of coffee to all of their MyWaitrose cardholders that don’t bring their own cup!

PS Although Harris & Hoole started as an independent, they were fully taken over by Tesco in 2016 and were subsequently sold to Cafe Nero, so shouldn’t be thought of as an independent.

Thank you we did not mean to describe Harris and Hoole as independent only Surrey Hills. But thank you for the clarification. Ed
Martin Elliott Reply

August 21, 2018 at 9:05 pm

What this does illustrate is that the headline propaganda is hardly the full story.

The problem is not the cups themselves, but the establishment of another collection scheme for this recyclable item. As the BBC News themselves pointed out in a ‘specialist’ web report, there are several UK companies processing coffee cups to products such as high-quality papers. The problem they have is getting enough cups to process!