From: Packaging News

Use of around 300 million disposable coffee cups could be cut if a charge was introduced for consumers, a new study has fund.

Cardiff University’s Wouter Poortinga, the study author, said the most notable finding was that, while a charge on disposable cups increased the use of reusable coffee cups, a discount on reusable coffee cups had no impact on their usage.
Cardiff University conducted the study involving 12 small coffee shops and tested various measures to tackle coffee cup waste and encourage the use of reusable cups, with the findings due to be submitted to a UK government inquiry into waste.

The probe will look at what actions are being undertaken by the industry and the government to reduce waste generated by coffee cups and plastic bottles and look over the available solutions.
The provision of free reusable alternatives combined with environmental messaging and a charge on disposable cups increased the use of reusable cups in one cafe from 5.1% to 17.4%.

“Our results show that, on average, the use of reusable coffee cups could be increased by up to 12.5% with a combination of measures,” he said.

“With this in mind, the UK’s usage of an estimated 2.5bn disposable coffee cups each year could be cut by up to 300 million coffee cups.”

Poortinga said there was an important nuance when it comes to financial incentives.
“People are far more sensitive to losses than to gains when making decisions – so if we really want to change a customer’s behaviour then a charge on a disposable cup is more likely to be effective.”

Chris Stemman, executive director of the British Coffee Association, said the focus should be on new technology to enhance the recyclability of coffee cups.

“Our focus is to create long term sustainability and a circular economy with-in the coffee industry. We believe that developing new packaging materials and enhancing recycling processes and infrastructures will have a significantly greater and longer-term impact compared with other proposed measures such as charging or taxing disposable cups.”

Currently, Starbucks gives customers a 25p discount if they bring their own re-usable cup, while Costa gives a donation of 25p to charities – Keep Britain Tidy, Keep Scotland Beautiful and Keep Wales Tidy – when people bring their own cup.