Just a few years ago, over one million single-use disposable cups were thrown away each year on campus for hot drinks. Although the numbers have significantly dropped since there’s still room for improvement when it comes to reducing our waste.
That’s why the University has now reintroduced its new pricing structure in retail outlets and cafes for hot drinks following the phased return of staff and students on campus.
Not only will this initiative help to encourage staff, students and visitors to be more sustainable and meet their environmental responsibilities, but it will also mean customers fund future sustainable initiatives at the University.
The changes to the pricing structures will be a 25p surcharge when purchasing any hot drink using a disposable cup. Those bringing their own reusable cup or drinking inside the café or outlet using crockery will pay the standard list price seen on the menu.
Funds generated from the new charge on single-use disposable cups will be deployed into developing University environmental initiatives. One example of this is the development of water fountain infrastructures being installed at multiple locations that will also have the facility to rinse cups, making it easier than ever to use a reusable alternative.
The University’s Environmental Manager Nik Hunt commented: “The need to reduce our environmental impact is global news on a daily basis, as are the impacts of climate change with floods and forest fires appearing regularly in the news. There is therefore an increasing need to do more to reduce our environmental impact across all our activities.
“The aim of this single-use supplement is to encourage a culture change around the waste we generate and the resources we use. The benefit of using any surplus for further educational and operational environmental initiatives means we can seek further opportunities to support the culture and behaviour changes needed to reduce our environmental impacts.”
If you don’t already own a reusable cup, the retail outlets on campus sell three types of cups: the Loughborough Cup, the rCup (created by alumnus Dan Dicker) and KeepCup.
For more information, contact the Sustainability team by emailing waste@lboro.ac.uk.