Shrewsbury cafe owners banning single-use cups say 'we risk losing customers but must act now'
The owners of two coffee shops in Shrewsbury say they are "risking losing customers" by banning disposable cups, but insist we "must act now" to save the environment.
Stop. Cafe owners Mike and Nicola Dalton are ditching single use cups at their cafes in Shrewsbury due to feeling "overwhelmed by the magnitude" of environmental damage caused by plastic and single-use items, and wanting to "stop being part of the problem".
The initiative will be running at both their venues, in St Julian's Friars and at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery in The Square.
Stop. Cafe was one of the first in Shrewsbury to be part of the Shrewsbury Cup scheme, which encourages customers to pay £1 for a re-usable cup and either give it back in return for their money back, or keep the cup and take it home.
Speaking about banning single-use cups, Mike said: "It’s a unique move in the county as far as I'm aware, and only a handful of venues across the whole of the UK are doing something similar.
"In the next month or so, when our current stock of takeaway cups runs out, we will stop offering customers the choice of a paper cup for their takeaway drink. The options will be 1) borrow a Shrewsbury Cup 2) bring your own cup or 3) buy a re-usable cup to keep.
"As business owners, we feel overwhelmed by the magnitude and scale of environmental changes caused by plastic and single-use items, and want to stop being part of this problem and do something positive."
He added: "Single use cups on average only have a lifespan of 15 minutes, and are then thrown away. Cups labelled 'recyclable' or compostable/biodegradable can only be so if there are specialised facilities - none exist in Shrewsbury and the council doesn't provide separate bins anyway - no cups in town are therefore recycled.
"Currently 20-plus cafes in Shrewsbury participate in the Shrewsbury Cup scheme. If more promoted it then it would help the scheme to work better and encourage more customers to use it.
"At Stop we aim to ask every customer ordering a takeaway drink if they would like a Shrewsbury Cup, so they have the choice. The scheme is simple - buy a cup for £1, when you've finished, drop it off at ANY participating cafe and get you money back. Think of it as a deposit scheme. It's convenient as you don't have to carry a cup round or harm the environment by using a single-use cup.
"So many people say they already have a Shrewsbury Cup at home or have loads of re-usable cups at home but forget to bring them. The key to Shrewsbury Cup is that is works best when you drop your cup back at a cafe as soon as you have finished with it, e.g. pick up a drink in the Quarry at Coffee Evolution, walk along the river and drop it back at Stop. If you take it home it will end up joining the rest of your cups in the cupboard.
"We could lose customers and therefore revenue from our decision but we feel strongly that, against a backdrop of climate change etc we need to do something. It may only seem a small step but every year 2.5 billion cups are thrown away in the UK. We all need to take action now."