BRADFORD'S Green Street has secured funding to trial a returnable cups and food packaging scheme in the city.
One of the UK’s leading champions of sustainable retailing, Green Street, was awarded a six-figure grant from the £1.4 million Bring It Back Fund set up by environmental charity Hubbub and Starbucks.
The fund was created to trial innovative solutions across the UK to reduce single-use food and beverage packaging. Green Street was one of only six schemes nationally to be granted funding.
The Bring It Back Fund judging panel, made up of leading retail and sustainability experts, was impressed by the Green Street proposal which outlined an innovative “borrowing” cup and food box system that links customers to a digital rewards scheme devised by technology company Maybe*.
Existing Green Street partners Bread + Roses vegetarian café and My Lahore restaurant chain, among others, will be the first to introduce the returnable cup and food box scheme to their customers.
Bread + Roses will undertake the returnable cup element whilst My Lahore will trial a returnable takeaway box – potentially saving the need for thousands of disposable items every week, as well as offering a cost saving to the business itself.
The pilot will be live with other Green Street city centre cafes between January and September next year. It is hoped numbers will increase to 15 during the trial with an opportunity for new Green Street members to join.
Victoria Robertshaw, founder of Green Street, said: “Through the trial we want to be able to demonstrate and develop a scalable solution that will, hopefully, grow to become a fully-fledged cup and food box borrowing scheme aimed at Bradford’s independent food and drink sector.
“As Bradford is Britain’s curry capital, this scheme could slash the enormous waste associated with any takeaway business and be truly game-changing for the city – and beyond.”
Gavin Ellis, director and co-founder of Hubbub, added: “With the Bring It Back fund, we set out to find innovators with pioneering new approaches to challenge single-use packaging in the food and drink sector.
“Green Street’s pilot is a practical and engaging solution, working with local businesses to introduce a returnable packaging system in Bradford and trialling reward incentives.”
Alex Rayner, general manager at Starbucks UK, said: “We look forward to seeing how the Green Street trial progresses. It is important for us as a company that we continue to drive industry-wide innovation, as we work to increase reusability and inspire greater reusables uptake in local communities across the UK.”
Interested businesses can find out more by contacting hello@greenstreet.org.uk
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