RESIDENTS of one north Hampshire village have launched an innovative scheme which aims to eliminate disposable cups by allowing customers to 'hire' reusable cups - the first of its kind in the county.
The initiative, called Overton Cup and started by Sustainable Overton, will see people pay an extra pound when buying a hot drink to allow them to borrow the cup in any of the village's participating shops and cafes, which will then be refunded when they return it.
It aims to significantly reduce waste and litter, with a village the size of Overton using and binning 150,000 disposable cups per year.
The Overton Cup scheme aims to reduce litter and plastic waste in the village.
Laura Harrison, who is heading up the initiative together with Sarah Warriss-Simmons, said “We hope that other areas will follow suit to help Hampshire reduce its plastic waste and help fight climate change.
"If this initiative was rolled out across Hampshire, it would make a powerful statement that people are sick and tired of all this unnecessary plastic that we produce, when there are simple sustainable alternatives."
The initiative has been started by the parish council’s climate emergency community group, Sustainable Overton, spear-headed by their Plastic Free team who are working hard to eliminate all single-use plastics from the parish.
The Overton Cup scheme aims to reduce litter and plastic waste in the village.
Disposable cups and lids are either made of plastic or bio-plastic (PLA) and are single-use and non-recyclable. They are used for an average of 15 minutes before being binned.
7 million disposable cups are used (and binned) in the UK per day - equivalent to 150,000 per year for a village with the population of Overton.
Less than 5 per cent of hot drinks are sold in reusable cups, and 99.75 per cent of cups go into general waste despite many people thinking they are recyclable.
Research has found that over two-thirds (69 per cent) of people have their own reusable coffee cup but only 1 in 6 say they remember to use them every time they buy a hot drink. It means that less than 5 per cent of hot drinks are currently sold in a keep cup.
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