Starbucks and Costa have rolled out in-store recycling schemes for takeaway coffee cups.
The chains are encouraging all customers with ‘to go’ paper cups to return them to stores, and will also take away cups from other brands.
Starbucks has introduced 20 recycling bins across Central and West London, which feature sections for customers to pour away leftover liquid and separate bins for the sleeve, lid and cup.
And in more than 2,000 Costa stores across the UK, customers are able to stack any paper cups in racks at the back of the store for recycling. The nationwide scheme followed a successful trial in London and Manchester stores last year.
Costa is also set to introduce new reusable cups, which offer customers a 25p discount each time they buy a drink with the cup.
Both chains are working with waste and recycling service Veolia.
The moves came after shortly after Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall revealed in his War on Waste programme that Brits go through 5,000 disposable coffee cups a minute (or 2.5 billion a year) - and none of them are recyclable. It is thought to take more than 20 years for a disposable coffee cup to decompose.
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