Banbury Waitrose among first in UK to ditch disposable coffee cups

The Southam Road shop will have no more disposable cups from April 30 along with eight other branches as an initial trial before removing them from all stores by the autumn.

Waitrose head of sustainability and responsible sourcing Tor Harris said: “We realise this is a major change, but we believe removing all takeaway disposable cups is the right thing to do for our business and are confident the majority of customers will support the environmental benefits.

“It underlines our commitment to plastic and packaging reduction and our aim is to deliver this as quickly as possible.”

Members of the supermarket’s loyalty scheme, myWaitrose, will continue to have the option to enjoy a free tea or coffee from their shop’s self serve machine as a thank you for shopping with them.

In the coming weeks though they will be asked to bring their own reusable cup to use rather than being offered a disposable coffee cup when they go through the checkout.

As part of today’s announcement, myWaitrose members will no longer be able to claim their free hot drink in its 180 in-store cafes; this is to avoid customers without a reusable cup (and therefore unable to use the self serve machines) putting increased pressure on its hospitality areas.

Instead, myWaitrose members who purchase a tea or coffee in a cafe will be offered a choice of food options to enjoy for free or with a generous discount.

These will vary each month, but for the first month myWaitrose members will be able to choose from either soup, bircher muesli, almond croissant or a loaf cake slice to have for free with their beverage.​