Starbucks first coffee chain to trial 5p "latte levy"
Starbucks will be the first UK coffee chain to trial a 5p "latte levy" on takeaway paper cups in a bid to wean clients off of their use.
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Instead, baristas will offer all customers who are drinking in the shop ceramic cups.
To begin, the levy will be introduced at 35 London branches out of a total of 900 establishments spread across the UK.
All the proceeds from the tariff will go to environmental charity Hubbub and be used for further research into reducing plastic cup usage or making it easier to recycle them.
Simon Redfern, vice-president of communications at Starbucks Europe said, "We're hoping that this charge will remind customers to rethink their use of single-use plastic-lined cups, as it has with plastic bags.
"We've offered a reusable cup discount for 20 years, with only 1.8% of customers currently taking up this offer, so we're really interested in working with Hubbub to see how this charge could help to change behaviour and help to reduce waste."
Other coffee chains like Costa or Pret a Manger have also broadened their current discounts for reusable cups but neither have implemented a levy on paper disposables yet.