There are just days left until independently-owned coffee chain Boston Tea Party (BTP) will stop issuing disposable coffee cups, with the two cafés in Bath banning them from this Friday, 1st June.
From this Friday, customers will have four options:
- To ‘drink in’
- To bring their own reusable cup
- To buy a reusable cup
- To use BTP’s loan cup scheme
Boston Tea Party has ordered 60,000 reusable cups from Ecoffee Cup at a cost of nearly £250,000 in readiness for the ban.
The scheme means if a customer forgets their own reusable cup, they can put a deposit on a BTP loan cup, take their hot drink away and return the cup to any BTP site and get a full refund.
The chain will also be donating 10p from every takeaway hot drink sold, to a charity local to each site.
Sam Roberts, owner and MD of BTP said: “The response we’ve had to the ban is incredible. This was a decision we made in line with our ethos of making things better and it seems as though people are up for joining us in our mission to eradicate coffee cup waste.
“We’ve had requests to open cafés in London, Ireland and across the world based on the news and countless supportive social posts telling us people will visit more because of our lack of compromise on the crucial issue of plastics.”
In addition to the investment in the reusable cups, Boston Tea Party is risking £1 million in takeaway hot drink sales as all 21 sites become the first to make recycling the last option, as opposed to the first.
Callum Taylor, manager of Boston Tea Party in Birmingham explained his initial reaction to the news: “At first I was nervous about how our customers might react. It’s a massive change.
“Now we’ve had all the training and the word is spreading I’ve had loads of people come in and say they’re chuffed we’re the ones making a stand and taking such decisive action.”
Since announcing it was banning disposable cups, Boston Tea Party has seen a wealth of support from fans including loyal customer Mark who said: “Thank you so much for your brilliant decision. I’m a big fan of BTP, although I don’t have a branch in my town, I’m now an even bigger fan!
“This is absolutely a correct decision and has the support of everyone I know. Thank you for leading the way towards a more sustainable future.”
Sam Roberts said of this Friday: “It’s going to be a great day for us. It’s something we can all be proud of. I want to be able to look my kids in the eye when they’re old enough and tell them we started something.
“We’re not going to solve the whole issue alone, but I’m ready for a call from Costa or Starbucks! We’re certainly happy to share with them what we’ve learned.”
