Abstract

It is estimated that 2.5–10 bn disposable coffee cups are used every year in the U.K. Most of these cups end up in landfill or as litter, as the majority of poly-coated paper cups are not recyclable or not recycled. Here, we report on a field experiment that was conducted at twelve university and business sites to examine whether the use of reusable cups can be promoted through easily implementable measures. The study found that both environmental messaging and the provision of alternatives increased the use of reusable cups. While a charge on disposable cups increased their use as well, a discount on reusable cups did not. The effects for the individual measures were modest, but additive, meaning that the greatest behavioural change was achieved with a combination of measures. None of the measures negatively impacted the total number of hot drink sales. One university continued with the charge after the experiment had finished and distributed more reusable cups for free among their students. This boosted the use of reusable cups up to 33.7% across three cafés. This shows that a charge in combination with the provision of alternatives can increase the use of reusable cups substantially in the long term.

Highlights

  • This study has shown that it is possible to encourage the use of reusable coffee cups through a number of implementable measures

  • This can help reduce the number of single-use disposable coffee cups ending up as litter or as waste in landfill

  • Disposable coffee cups represent only a small proportion of the total amount of waste generated by households, and all different types of packaging are being littered [8]

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Summary

Introduction

It is estimated that between 2.5 and 10 bn disposable coffee cups are used every year in the U.K. alone [1,2]. It is difficult to recycle disposable coffee cups for a number of technical, economic and social reasons. There are currently few opportunities for consumers to recycle disposable cups that are taken away from coffee shops. Even when disposable cups are used in or returned to a coffee shop, they may not be recyclable because of contamination with organic materials or other food packaging [7]. Drink containers, including disposable coffee cups, are already among the most discarded items in English cities [8] and may end up as litter in the marine environment [9]. It is estimated that currently, more than half a million cups are littered every day in the UK [1]

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