Pret a Manger launch organic takeaway filter coffee at 49p a cup
I’m delighted you can now get 50p off a hot drink when you bring your reusable cup to Pret. I hope this will make a difference. — Pret a Manger chief executive Clive Schlee
As of today, organic takeaway filter coffee from Pret a Manger at 49p a cup.
And the catch? Have to bring own cup for a refill.
Strictly speaking not a catch, it is to encourage use of reusable cups and discourage waste, reduce the number of plastic-lined throwaway cups that go to landfill or incineration.
Or is it?
In the absence of in-store information, no reusable cups on sale in store, store lacking the facility to relax with a coffee out of a ceramic cup, it will make little difference in the use of throwaway cups and will be seen as a PR stunt nothing more.
Note: Mainstream media carry the same story more or less word for word. That is what counts as journalism these days, cut and paste from a press release.
How long will this scheme last once the PR advantage has been milked? In 2016 tax-dodging Starbucks scrapped its own 50p discount for customers who bring their own cup just three months after it was introduced. It does of course raises the obvious question why would anyone who appreciates coffee wish to drink what is called coffee in Starbucks?
We need transparency, we need to see what the figures were before and after this scheme introduced.
Pret a Manger are not pioneers in this. Many indie coffee shops have been offering a discount if bring back a cup to be filled, the main difference, they have on sale resusable cups.
UK ships 500,000 tonnes of plastic to China every year. This is not recycling, this is dumping. China has said it will no longer take plastic waste from the UK.
The UK throws away 2.5 billion takeaway coffee cups every year. The planet is being destroyed by plastic.
One of the first steps we can take is to eliminate the use of throwaway plastic-lined takeaway coffee cups.
And that is the problem, the cups are lined with plastic, cannot be recycled, go to landfill or incineration or are thrown in the street.
Compostable paper cups are available. Fine, if on way home, drop off on the compost heap, but what if not, what then to do with the paper cup? It will end up in the waste stream.
Reusable cups, eg KeepCup, have a role for office workers popping out for a coffee and taking back to the office. Beyond that limited use as bulky, expensive, and a pain to carry around.
This is to address the symptoms. What we have to do is discourage the grab it and go culture, which Pret a Manger encourages, and encourage relax in an indie coffee shop with a cup of speciality coffee served in a ceramic cup.
