Bristol-based environmental organisation and Future Leap Network member, City to Sea, have successfully saved the 2000th single-use coffee cup through their Refill Return Cup pilot. The project, which launched on World Refill Day 16th June, enables Bristolians to have their takeaway tea and coffee in a reusable cup which they can borrow from participating coffee shops for free and return to any participating outlet in the city. There are currently 16 coffee shops where customers can borrow or return their cup, including at the Future Leap Café, making it easy and convenient to choose reuse over single-use. City to Sea has an ambitious goal of saving 100,000 cups through the project and this milestone shows that there is a desire for an accessible and proven alternative to single-use cups of which we use round 66,000 every single day in Bristol. The project has the backing of major players in the coffee industry including Clifton Coffee and of Bristol institutions such as University of the West of England. City to Sea want to see local employees using the Refill Return Cup when they get their takeaway drinks, especially as they can borrow multiple cups in a single transaction, meaning a round of coffees for colleagues can still be sustainable! George Clark, Project Manager at City to Sea, said: “It is fantastic to see that the people of Bristol have risen to the challenge of cutting single-use waste when getting their coffee from our amazing independent coffee shops. Saving 2000 cups from landfill or from littering our streets and harbour is a great achievement and we hope we can build on this going forward as more coffee shops come on board with the project.” The pilot runs until the end of October and City to Sea plan to take the learnings forward so they can roll the project out across Bristol and further afield. Tea and coffee drinkers can download the Refill app to get involved and start saving cups and lids from the waste stream.