We Brits love a good coffee. What better way to get back into the swing of daily life than with our favourite caffeine fix to sooth the Monday blues?

But our addiction to the black stuff, especially in take-away form, is having a serious impact on the environment. According to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, a staggering 2.5 BILLION disposable cups are thrown away in the UK EVERY year! That’s 5000 every minute with less than 1 in 400 currently being recycled.

That’s why MPs are proposing that single use cups should be banned by 2023 and have suggested a 25p “latte levy” on paper cups. They point to the carrier bag tax, introduced in 2015, as successful evidence of the impact a small charge can have in changing our habits when it comes to throwaway items.

Surely the big retailers should be doing more? In a bid to encourage customers to bin the paper cup for good, some of the high street coffee chains offer discounts to those who bring their own reusable cup. This has been done for a number of years without much fanfare, until Tuesday (2nd Jan 2018) when Pret-A-Manger, Chief Executive, Clive Schlee, tweeted they had doubled their discount to 50p per hot drink for reusable cup users. Others such as Starbucks & Costa will give you 25p off, while at Greggs it will save you 20p per drink.

The retailers kindly ask that your reusable cup is clean (seems obvious!) and that it also has a suitable lid if you are taking it out of their shop. (They will let you use an open mug if you’re happy to sit in and enjoy it.) So, what are your reusable cup options?

Lancashire is the home of one the leading manufacturers of multi-use coffee cups. The Americano range, made in Blackpool, is one of the bestselling promotional mugs in Europe, supplied with a lid and comes in three handy sizes to suit most people’s hot drink preferences.

Stephen Ward, M.D. of distributors www.BusinessGiftUK.com explained why these products are a “win win” solution to the huge waste problem. “The Americano mugs are great advert carriers for businesses, so they cover the costs, and the advertiser gets a topical and practical promotion. The cups are usually then passed on to the consumer free of charge, who can then also get a discount at most leading drinks providers. The cafes in turn have both a saving on cup costs and much reduced disposal problems. Finally, we are all winners environmentally. Seems like a no brainer to me.”

So why not get your branding into the hands of, and on the lips of, your business contacts, as an eco-innovator and environmentally friendly supplier.