Litter
As the Nation’s Favourite* Coffee shop, it's our responsibility to operate in a way that respects the planet. In addition to our continuing efforts to reduce waste and find new ways to recycle, we are also committed to tackling litter in our local communities.
We were among the first signatories of Keep Britain Tidy’s Litter Prevention Commitment back in 2015, which involves raising awareness of the problem of litter, encouraging people to do the right thing when disposing of their rubbish, and to take positive action to reduce the cost of cleaning up litter. We also collaborate closely with Keep Wales Tidy and Keep Scotland Beautiful to encourage our teams and customers to play a part in clearing up litter, for example in 2020 and in 2021.
We've participated in the Great British Spring Clean for the past six years and continue to support litter picking events throughout the year, helping to reduce the impact of litter in our communities. We were also proud to support DEFRA’s ‘Keep it, Bin it’ message by reminding people to recycle their takeaway cups and partnered with Keep Scotland Beautiful to encourage customers to #TakeItHome.
Industry-wide collaborations are also vital to tackling this issue, so we’ve worked closely with Hubbub, a social enterprise who use behaviour change techniques to drive consumer action. Projects in Edinburgh, London, Swansea and Leeds have led to significant changes in how consumers dispose of their litter and have created templates for other cities to follow when it comes to tackling on the go recycling.
Litter continues to be a hugely important social and environmental challenges across the UK, and we will continue to protect and preserve our local community spaces by encouraging people to dispose of their rubbish in a responsible way. This includes recycling our takeaway coffee cups and encouraging reusable cups.