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Waitrose’s takeaway coffee cups will have been withdrawn from all of its Channel Island branches (two in Guernsey and three in Jersey) by this month ( August) following the supermarket’s commitment to reduce the amount of plastic and packaging it uses.
Members of the supermarket’s loyalty scheme, myWaitrose, will continue to have the option to enjoy a free hot drink from the shop’s self-serve machine as a thank you for shopping with them. However customers will be asked to bring their own reusable cup to use rather than being offered a disposable cup when they go through the checkout.
Waitrose has been managing this changeover as smoothly as possible for all its customers after announcing the change in April this year. The plan was to phase the programme out completely by the autumn across all its branches. The Channel Islands stores have been one of the first areas to achieve this target well within the autumn deadline.
Removing the cups further underlines the supermarket’s commitment to reducing its impact on the environment and its use of plastics and packaging. It recently pledged to not sell any own label food in black plastic beyond 2019 - an earlier date than any other supermarket. It has also committed to make all own-label packaging widely recyclable (using the widely recycled logo), reusable, or home compostable by 2025.
Ian Burdekin, branch manager of Waitrose Admiral Park and Channel Islands director said: “Waitrose has committed to save more than 52 million takeaway cups a year to help protect the environment. We are not alone in the commitment to reduce plastic and packaging and firmly believe it is the right direction to take in order to support the environment.
“It is good to see that our Channel Islands branches will have achieved the target of withdrawing the takeaway cups well before the autumn deadline.
“We continue to encourage myWaitrose customers to bring in their own reusable cups when they visit our shops to benefit from our free hot drink service.”
