We are excited to announce the launch of a new ‘Borrow Brew’ scheme in Emsworth, where our charity is based. It is estimated that in the UK, we use 7 million disposable coffee cups every day. We’ll let that sink in for a minute. 7 million A DAY. This monstrous mountain of waste is an environmental nightmare – most disposable coffee cups have plastic liners and lids, which do not break down into harmless nothingness. If they end up in landfill they will be there for hundreds of years, and if they get into our precious harbours, waterways and countryside they will linger for eons after the hot drink has been consumed, posing a danger to wildlife and creating an eyesore.

The Borrow Brew scheme is designed to reduce some of this waste in our little corner of the universe – a deposit return scheme for reusable coffee cups. How does it work? Simply, coffee shops and cafés sign up for the scheme. We provide them with a batch of reusable coffee cups. When a customer comes into their shop, if they have forgotten to bring their own reusable cup and want a take-out hot drink, they can opt to pay a deposit on a cup and get their drink in that. They pop their cup back to the shop (or any of the participating shops) when they have finished their drink, and get their deposit back. No disposable cup needed, and no unnecessary waste. The coffee shop cleans the cup in the same way they clean all other crockery and cutlery, ready for use by another customer.

Want to find out more? Visit our Borrow Brew page here: https://finalstrawfoundation.org/borrow-brew/