Coffee lovers urged to join Norfolk's first reusable cup scheme

The Holt Cup scheme means people can pick up a durable, polypropylene cup for a £1 deposit when they buy a drink at cafes around the town, which can be reused to cut down on waste.

The scheme involves around six venues so far including the cafe at Holt Country Park and the Gresham's School canteen, and is being managed by the Wandering Whelk Café in partnership with Greening Holt.

Sarah Tribe, from Greening Holt, said she was inspired to launch the scheme after seeing something similar in Shrewsbury.

She said: "The Holt Cup aims to put a stop to single use disposable takeaway cups, encouraging the town to move towards becoming zero waste."

The new Holt Cups. (Image: Supplied by Greening Holt)

Ms Tribe said she contacted the people behind the Shrewsbury scheme, who shared their expertise to help its equivalent in Holt get off the ground.

She said: "The project will rely on Holt’s independent beverage locations all coming together and getting behind this town-wide scheme, alongside the community as a whole adopting the 'choose to reuse' ethos."

Ms Tribe said that of the seven million single use cups that are thrown away every day in the UK, fewer than 1pc were recycled.

She said: "Compostable takeaway cups are a great start to becoming sustainable however, most of the time they end up in general rubbish and aren't composted at all. The Holt Cup is 100pc polypropylene and is designed to be used hundreds of times.

"Customers will simply pay a £1 deposit, and they can return the cup to any participating cafe and get their next takeaway served in a fresh cup. Should they wish to hand their cup in, they can reclaim their £1 deposit at any time."

Other venues taking part in the scheme so far include Eric's Fish and Chips, Il Calabrese and Horatio's.

Cafes or other venues interested in taking part in the Holt Cup scheme, or starting something similar in another town, can get in touch with Greening Holt by email at greeningholt@gmail.com.