Designed by bottle manufacturer Chilly’s, the 500ml reusable bottles are available in 14 Pret stores for £20 and can be refilled for free using Pret’s filtered water stations that are available in selected shops across the country.
The bottles feature three exclusive Pret designs and are made to keep drinks either hot or cold for 12 and 24 hours respectively.
“Plastic bottles are a problem,” Pret’s chief executive Clive Schlee said. “We all feel it even before we hear the shocking statistics about millions of tonnes of plastic ending up in our oceans each year. I’m thrilled that we’ve partnered with Chilly’s to create a range of reusable bottles and I hope our customers love the designs as much as we do.”
Deposit scheme trial
The launch coincides with the start of a new Pret plastic deposit return scheme, which is claimed to be a UK-first. The two-month trial will see Pret accept and recycle any plastic bottles taken into three shops in Brighton. A 10p deposit will be returned when Pret-branded plastic bottles are given back.
Pret states that the feedback has been positive so far – 15% of plastic bottles were returned on the first day. If successful, the high-street chain will roll out the scheme to more locations later this year.
It comes after the Government’s plan last month to create a deposit return scheme in England for single-use drinks containers.
At the start of the year, Pret doubled its discount for customers who bring reusable cups into stores to 50p.
Pret has been working with companies such as Simply Cups and A Short Walk to introduce recyclable and renewable packaging for its coffee cups. The company is also looking to reduce the number of plastic bottles sold at its outlets and on the high streets, by offering free filtered water and reusable glass bottles at its three Veggie Pret shops.
With research showing that an estimated 2.5 billion paper coffee cups are discarded in the UK each year, a host of high-street chains have responded to media and consumer backlash.
Costa Coffee launched a recycling scheme in all of its stores to ensure that as many as possible of its own takeaway cups – and those from its competitors – are recycled. Starbucks followed with a similar initiative, launching a new in-store paper cup recycling bin aimed at encouraging customers to return take-away cups back into the store and boost overall recycling levels.
George Ogleby