The first airport reusable cup trial has been launched by Starbucks and Hubbub with Gatwick Airport. The trial will offer drop off points for Starbucks reusable cups throughout the airport’s South Terminal to help cut paper cup waste and address throw-away culture.

Customers at the Starbucks store, which is operated in partnership with SSP, will have the option to borrow a free reusable cup for their drink instead of using a paper cup, which they can then drop off at one of five ‘Cup Check-In’ points throughout the airport before they board their flight.

Over 5.3 million of the seven million paper cups used at Gatwick each year are already being recycled but as recycling requires empty cups to be placed in the dry recycling bins, Starbucks and Hubbub have identified the potential to increase reusable cup options as well to limit the number of cups used in travel hubs where on-the-go packaging is prevalent.

Rachel Thompson, sustainability lead, Gatwick Airport said: “There is strong public support for measures to reduce waste and we are delighted to support one of our retailers with an innovation that can help travellers do that. We are looking forward to seeing how the trial goes and what we can learn to improve the solution.” 

The trial is part of Starbucks and Hubbub’s on-going partnership and commitment to reducing paper cup waste. After introducing a 5p charge on paper cups in 2018 to encourage reuse, Starbucks has donated all proceeds to Hubbub to carry out environmental projects and research that increase sustainable consumer behaviour, such as this Gatwick trial.

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