A CAFE in York is trialling a new scheme to improve sustainability by offering reusable cups.

Bar Hashery cafe in Bootham in the city is trialling a scheme to encourage more customers to use reusable cups.

The cafe sells a custom blue-and-white KeepCup for a price of £10 - and customers who buy such a cup can bring it back in, clean or dirty, and have their coffee made in a freshly cleaned cup from their stock.

Customers already receive a 10 per cent discount on hot drinks made in reusable cups - no matter what the brand of the cup is.

Business owner, Naomi Somers, was inspired by a similar initiative she saw in a London cafe, and said she is "passionate", about reducing the amount of business waste.

Naomi said: "Our business does really well on waste otherwise, but disposable cups are a major issue when it comes to pollution.

"We have used compostable cups, but there is no industrial composting scheme widely available.

"We are switching back to fully recyclable cups and will be offering a collection point for those in-store. Sadly there are very few public recycling bins to be found in the city centre, but it's even better if the waste isn't there to begin with.

Naomi added that with this scheme they hope to make it easier for their customers to use reusable cups, without having to worry about washing their cups before they buy their next coffee.

"We know people want to be more climate conscious but these days single-use is everywhere, we want to offer a Covid-safe and easy alternative", Naomi went on to say.

Further information can be found on the Bar Hashery website at: https://bit.ly/2QKK9tO

Alternatively, you can find their Instagram page by searching ' barhasheryyork'.