That 10.8 million cups equates to 16% of the UK population. This equates to 55,080 coffee cups just in Cheshire West which could well have been single use. Less than 1% of single use coffee cups are recycled as they need to go to specialist recycling facilities as most are a mix of paper and plastic. Some businesses have tried to become more responsible and gone for the compostable versions, the difficulty here is that these require industrial composting that’s not available in most locations in the UK and so they are thrown away into general waste in the region. The optimum aim is for a circular economy, no waste as in nature. What we propose is deposit return style scheme, where a deposit is paid for the reusable coffee cup, a small deposit say £1 is paid for the cup itself. The take away coffee and cup can be taken off the premises, but the cup can then be taken back to the same café the next day or handed into another participating café for a new clean cup or refund.

What we'll deliver:

• We will deliver a reusable cup scheme in Chester as phase one

Why it's a great idea:

We are all human and ww go out without one of those reusable cups we bought and fancy a take away coffee, so we end up using a single use cup with we then throw away. Cafes are using single use cups which go into general waste or end up in our environment, parks and oceans. If they are branded they can also result in bad press for a business. What about the Carbon Footprint of Single use Vs Reusables? A disposable cup uses 110g of CO2e A reusable cup made from polypropylene and manufactured in the UK has a lower environmental impact than single-use paper cups after just 3 uses. After 7 uses the environmental impact is 41% less, after 182 uses (6 months) the impact is 95% less. SO A WIN WIN It could also help to put Cheshire on the map as one of the most sustainable regions in the UK.

Steps to get it done:

• Buy the stock of reusable cups

By supporting the project with this seed funding of the cups it could help businesses in the long term. For example a 12oz double wall biodegradable coffee cup - £80.84 inc. VAT for a case of 5002, each cup costs 16p each but this is single use. How many do some of our businesses go through each year! We have been speaking to Shrewsbury Cup who have made this a reality in Shropshire. http://www.shrewsburycup.co.uk/