M&S Food has launched a new 100% paper fibre coffee cup across its cafes which is plastic-free and easily recyclable.
The first major high street coffee retailer to roll out a fully recyclable paper cup and lid, the updated packaging will be available today (19 October) across 20 sites including M&S cafes, vended coffee points and marketplaces within its foodhalls such as Stratford City, London, and Leeds White Rose and Chestnut.
The cups will be launching in every M&S cafe in the coming months and display a ‘100% recyclable’ banner to highlight the change to customers.
Currently, regular paper coffee cups cannot be easily recycled due to the thin layer of plastic coating on the inside and as a result, cannot go into household recycling.
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The upmarket retailer introduced paper fibre lids earlier this year, and has now said the new cups and lids are the only ones on the high street made from innovative organic materials that can be recycled like any other paper products.
The cups use a lining material which replicates the same barrier effect of plastic and M&S has claimed performs just as strongly as plastic in independent testing and assurance.
The material also has a plastic free accreditation and ensures even if the cup ends up in landfill, it will break down and leave no harmful plastics behind.
As a result of the change, 20m units of plastic packaging will be removed each year from M&S’ food business.
This builds on the retailers target of removing one billion units of plastic from the packaging of its food business, having removed 75m units last year.
M&S Food managing director, Alex Freudmann, said: “Our customers look to us to lead on the environment and we are constantly aiming to raise the bar and lower our impact on the planet. With one in every two of us visiting a coffee shop several times a week the long-lasting damage coffee cups can have on the planet without being properly recycled is huge.
“That’s why we were determined to bring a sustainable alternative to what’s out there today, and we’re proud to offer customers the first fully recyclable coffee cup on the high street. For me our coffee now ticks three big boxes – it’s delicious, it supports our growers and suppliers with every purchase, and now it comes in easy to recycle cups too.”
This comes as M&S swapped its plastic carrier bags for paper ones in all stores last month.
