In 2022 Costa ran a trial of a reusable cup scheme called ‘BURT’: standing for ‘Borrow, Use, Reuse, Take back’. It was a trial of an integrated on-the-go reusable cup scheme and ran across 14 stores in Glasgow.

Customers could borrow a reusable cup, use it, reuse it, and take it back to a store for it to be washed before being used again. Not only did this help customers who may have left their own cup at home or didn’t want to carry a reusable cup around all day, it also helped us learn more about how a scheme can work for our customers and baristas in our stores.

Costa Coffee used the trial to gain feedback from customers and learn about uptake and behaviour towards reusable cups. As a consequence Costa are looking to expand and refine the process going forward in the next few years.

Explainer Animation: