Matthew Horwood
for cardiff
CARDIFF’s city-wide Refill Return Cup scheme has seen more than 2,500 cups borrowed by coffee lovers, and a 97 per cent return rate, just one month after launching.
The Cardiff Refill Return Cup scheme enables customers to use the Refill app to find businesses where they can borrow a reusable cup when purchasing their takeaway coffee.
Businesses are provided with a stock of reusable cups which can be returned to any participating business, no matter where they were borrowed from.
When the customer purchases a drink, the participating retailer scans the cup and the customer’s personal QR code, pairing the cup to the customer. Once returned to a participating business, the cup is scanned, cleaned and put back into circulation to be re-used by another customer.
So far, over 2,500 reusable cups have been borrowed, equivalent to 83 per day. There is no charge for customers to participate, with a small fine charged for cups which aren’t returned.
An estimated 2.5 billion takeaway coffee cups are used and thrown away each year in the UK, equating to 10,000 coffee cups every two minutes.
Supported by FOR Cardiff and City to Sea, the pilot scheme is projected to prevent up to 30,000 single-use cups from entering Cardiff’s waste stream by March 2025.
This initiative has already saved an estimated 43kg of CO2 by reducing single-use cup waste.
George Clark, Programme Lead at City to Sea, said, “It has been a pleasure to support FOR Cardiff and their brilliant businesses to bring the Refill Return Cup to life in the city. When City to Sea piloted the project in Bristol in 2023, we got a good feel for the challenges and motivations of coffee shops in tackling the issue of single-use cups.
“We’re delighted to see that making the scheme free for customers, with a fee for not returning cups, is encouraging both high engagement and an excellent return rate! The impact already being seen in the first month demonstrates how motivated the people and businesses of Cardiff are to tackle plastic pollution.”
Carolyn Brownell, Executive Director of FOR Cardiff, commented, “Seeing the Cardiff Refill Return Cup scheme gain such quick momentum is inspiring. The commitment of Cardiff’s businesses, residents and visitors alike is helping build a more sustainable city one cup at a time.”
Gwenno Jones, Community Manager from participating café Da Coffee, shared, “Our customers have been really enthusiastic about the scheme – it’s such a simple swap, and it really resonates with people who want to make a difference. Being right by Central Station, we’re perfectly located to make the Refill Return Cup a convenient choice for commuters, local workers and visitors alike.”
Cardiff Business School and Greenwich Business School are evaluating the scheme’s impact, with the goal of creating a blueprint for other cities in the UK to follow. It is hoped that the success of the Cardiff pilot will build a powerful case for further schemes across Wales.
City to Sea founded the World Refill Day campaign in 2021 and works with governments, businesses and people globally to implement refill and reuse initiatives that turn off the plastic tap.
Since 2016, FOR Cardiff has invested over £1.5million annually to deliver award-winning projects, campaigns and events that enhance the city centre and represent the needs of over eight hundred businesses. https://www.forcardiff.com
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus