M&S unveils fully recyclable paper coffee cups and lids

Marks and Spencer Oxford Street credit Ewan Munro
Sustainability

M&S Food is pioneering sustainability by introducing the high street's first 100% paper, plastic-free, and easily recyclable coffee cups.

These innovative cups are available at selected locations, including M&S Cafés, vended coffee points, and Marketplaces. The cups feature a "100% recyclable" banner.

Regular paper coffee cups are challenging to recycle due to their inner plastic lining. M&S's new cups and lids are unique, made from innovative organic materials that offer the same protective barrier as plastic but with a lower environmental impact.

This move aligns with M&S's commitment to reducing plastic packaging. The introduction of these cups and lids is expected to eliminate 20 million units of plastic packaging each year in M&S's food business.

Marks and Spencer Oxford Street credit Ewan Munro
Marks and Spencer Oxford Street © Ewan Munro

M&S encourages customers to bring their own reusable cups and offers a 50p discount on hot drinks. For those who can't, the new cups provide an eco-friendly alternative. With over 300 cafes, M&S continues its journey toward sustainability.

Alex Freudmann, Managing Director at M&S Food: 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.

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