The university has adopted a system which invites students and staff to pay for their drink as normal and enjoy it in a returnable cup before putting the cup back at designated point. Tap&Reuse has been adopted at five café locations across its Bishop Otter and Bognor Regis campuses.
Since the beginning of September, 11,916 cups have been borrowed, with 90% being returned at an average return time of 2.14 days. An automatic charge of £3 will only be applied if the cup is not returned within eight days.
Josh Greenfield, group manager at the University of Chichester, said: "The scheme has been a fantastic addition to our catering operation. To cut tens of thousands of single use paper and plastic cups has been a massive success.
“We have implemented this transition smoothly across five busy catering outlets and two different service styles - barista and self-service. Our staff and customers alike have embraced this big change and are committed to its long-term success at the University of Chichester.”
After just two uses, a returnable cup starts to make a CO2 saving, supporting the university’s ongoing commitment to reducing environmental impact.
Each cup features a QR code that users can scan to see how long they have left to return it and the location of nearby points to do so. This helps to maximise return rate and the resulting positive impact on the scheme’s carbon footprint.
Dan Dicker, founder at Circular&Co, added: “The University of Chichester is among the growing number of respected institutions taking action to cut down on unnecessary waste. The results so far demonstrate the value of returnable cups in semi-enclosed environments, and it’s essential that every organisation to follows suit.”