Peterborough charity wins share of £1.4 million to tackle coffee cup litter

A Peterborough charity has won a share of £1.4 million of funding to help tackle single use food and drink packaging, and the littering problem it causes.

PECT, alongside five other winners across the UK, have won funding from the £1.4 million Bring it Back Fund launched by Hubbub and Starbucks. Working in collaboration with plastics and resources recycling charity, RECOUP, PECT’s Bring it Back project will work with communities in and around Peterborough to reduce single-use packaging and transition to reuse schemes in cafes, schools and at work.

Maria Basilisco, Senior Project Coordinator for PECT said: “We are all used to the convenience of single-use packaging such as crisp packets and coffee cups. But we don’t always see the impact they have on the planet and our communities’

“The Bring it Back project aims to help tackle this. We’re hoping that by working closely with each community, and understanding their needs, we can figure out if there is a way to make reusables as easy and as widespread as single use.”

PECT’s Bring It Back project will create a series of mini trials for different communities around Peterborough including catering facilities at Nene Park Trust, Oundle Market Town and local secondary schools. The trials will test how reusable packaging schemes work and what needs to change to make them a long-term solution.

PECT will pull together the learnings of the project to inform a digital toolkit that other organisations and communities around the UK can use. The digital toolkit will be an easy way for groups to reduce single-use packaging in their area,

meaning less waste being thrown away, getting lost in our local environment and affecting our wildlife.

Gavin Ellis, Director and Co-founder of Hubbub said: “By involving a range of groups and testing behaviour change initiatives in different settings like schools, offices and cafés, PECT’s project will help create a rich and better understanding of what works and what doesn’t at a local level. “We hope these learnings will in turn inspire other communities to roll out projects to tackle single-use packaging.”