Recently released results from a study by Zero Waste Scotland, at the NHS Scotland University Crosshouse Hospital in Ayrshire, has shown the business and sustainability benefits of reusable cups made with Bockatech EcoCore®.
Key findings from the research include:
Re-usable cup use rate increased from 1% to 43%, preventing 157 single-use hot drinks cups being wasted per day — circa 57,000 every year.
Hot drink sales increased by 10%
Survey respondents strongly supported the trial and cup charging more generally
The NHS goes through millions of single-use hot drinks cups each year. In practice, these cups are not recyclable and are ultimately sent to landfills or incinerated.
To reduce the environmental impact of single-use cups, the Ayrshire hospital partnered with Zero Waste Scotland to trial recyclable reusable cups alongside a suite of measures to encourage reusable cup usage among the hospital’s 5,000 staff.
Zero Waste Scotland and NHS Scotland worked together to implement a £0.10 charge on single-use disposable beverage cups at Crosshouse, reducing the price of hot drinks by £0.10 to also ensure cost neutrality.
Hospital staff were provided with free reusable and 100% recyclable cups made with EcoCore®. In addition to paying £0.10 less for their drinks, staff using any reusable cup also obtained a stamp towards a free tenth drink.
Talking about the significance of the new study Chris Bocking, Bockatech Founder and CEO, said: "The major fear for food service providers is that incoveninece and packaging cost increases will drive away customers.
"EcoCore makes it easy for organisations to choose reuse by cutting the cost of cups to the point they can be given away for free. This approach helped boost hot drink sales 10% in the NHS study."
The detailed study has also been cited in the Scottish Government's consultation on proposals for circular economy legislation.
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