The Cup Movement in Glasgow

27th February 2019

Almost 500 million single-use cups are used in Scotland each year. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of retailers and national recycling schemes, best estimates show that only 4% of these are currently recycled. With approximately 95 million single-use cups bought in the greater Glasgow area each year, the city is the perfect place to make a significant change.

Keep Scotland Beautiful have designed the Cup Movement – a campaign to ensure single-use cups don’t end up in landfill or as litter, that far more are recycled, and to encourage people to move to reusable cups instead of disposable ones.

The Cup Movement is the first city-wide campaign of its kind in Scotland to tackle the issue of single-use cups head on, and Glasgow's Universities and Colleges are invited to join the campaign.

It will strike at the heart of the problem in 3 ways, by:

1. Changing littering behaviour
2. Transforming recycling infrastructure
3. Exploring new ways of promoting reuse

The Cup Movement will also:

• Gather robust evidence to inform policy and practice
• Create a model of best practice that can be replicated in other major cities
• Contribute to the Scottish Government’s circular economy ambitions

It has the support and backing of the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, a range of public and private sector funders, including members of the Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group (PCRRG), and some of the UK’s biggest brands such as Costa Coffee, Greggs, McDonalds UK, Pret A Manger and Starbucks UK.

Staff from universities and colleges and student associations in G postcode areas are warmly invited to an EAUC-Scotland Glasgow Regional Meeting on the afternoon of 28th March 2019 to hear more about the Movement, and how they can get involved. Contact scotland@eauc.org.uk for more information about the Meeting.

The Cup Movement is run by Keep Scotland Beautiful in partnership with Simply Cups.