Phasing out single-use cups

People sat on a bench eating food and drinking hot beverages in the sun — Visitors enjoying hot and cold drinks from the café at Dinefwr, Carmarthenshire | © National Trust Images/Paul Harris

Every year 7 million single-use cups are thrown away at places in our care, creating waste that's harmful for nature, wildlife and the climate. As a conservation charity, we're continually looking at ways to reduce our impact on the environment. We're asking for your support to help us phase out single-use cups by the end of 2026.

Why we're phasing out single-use cups

In the UK, 2.5 billion single-use coffee cups are discarded every year – that's 7 million every day, or 5,000 per minute. This is causing great harm to our environment.

A single paper cup emits 110g of CO2 during its lifecyle – a carbon footprint that includes raw materal extraction, production and transportation. In 2023-24, our carbon footprint for single-use cups was 763 tonnes of CO2, which is the equivalent to driving three million miles.

Benefits for nature and climate

The average price for a single-use cup and lid is 14p. From 2022 to 2024, on average seven million cups were thrown away every year. This means that we spend more than £1m on single-use cups every year – money that could otherwise go back into protecting and caring for the places you enjoy.

Together we can create change that protects our environment for future generations to come. With your support, we can phase out single-use cups at the places we care for by the end of 2026.

Two women sitting on a bench on the boardwalk at Morden Hall Park, holding reusable coffee cups, smiling and talking — Visitors on the boardwalk at Morden Hall Park | © National Trust images/Megan Taylor

How you can support us

To support this change, all you need to do is bring your own reusable cup for takeaway drinks. This will get you a 25p discount on your hot drink.

If you don’t have a reusable cup, you can:

enjoy a drink in one of our cafés/restaurants using a ceramic cup
purchase one from our shop/café and you’ll get your first hot drink free
borrow a returnable cup from the café or kiosk

If you borrow a returnable cup, all we ask is that you return it at the end of the day by placing it into one of our dedicated collection points.

Please note, some of the places in our care may not offer returnable cups, so we recommend bringing your own. Thank you.

Frequently asked questions

To find out which cup options are available at specific places, you'll need to visit their individual web pages.

Look out for signs in the café when you visit. If you're being encouraged to bring your own cup, you'll receive a 25p discount on your first hot drink.

If your local place is offering returnable takeaway cups to borrow, you’ll see signage about this at the café or kiosk. If you borrow a returnable cup, please look out for information on where to return it at the end of your visit.

You can also speak to our staff and volunteers if you're unsure what to do.
If you bring your own cup, you'll receive 25p off your hot drink, and if you buy a reusable cup from one of our cafés, shops and online, you will get your first hot drink for free.

If you don’t want to bring your own cup, you can use a ceramic cup from one of our cafés or borrow a returnable cup if the option is available at the place you're visiting.

We’re trialling the returnable cup scheme at more than 30 places in our care.
The following places in our care are trialling the returnable cup scheme:

Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire

Arlington Court, Devon

Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire

Brownsea, Island, Dorset

Buckland Abbey, Devon

Castle Drogo, Devon

Castle Ward, County Down

Chirk Castle and Garden, Wrexham

Coleton Fishacre, Devon

Crook Hall Gardens, Durham

Erdigg Hall and Garden, Wrexham

Fyne Court, Somerset

Glendurgan Garden, Cornwall

Goddards, North Yorkshire

Greenway, Devon

Heddon Valley, Devon

Hidcote, Gloucestershire

Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire

Morden Hall, London

Nunnington Hall, North Yorkshire

Nymans, West Sussex

Ormesby Hall, North Yorkshire

Oxburgh Estate, Norfolk

Peckover House and Garden, Cambridgeshire

Powis, Castle and Garden, Powys

Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland

Sizergh, Lake District

Speke Hall, Liverpool

Sudbury Hall, Derbyshire

Wentworth Castle Gardens, South Yorkshire

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

The Workhouse, Nottinghamshire

Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire
We’ve spoken to many visitors at places where we've been trialling alternatives to single-use cups. They've been very supportive of our ambition to reduce waste.

As Europe’s largest conservation charity, many of our visitors understand that we need to reduce our impact on the environment. However, we understand that visitors and staff need time to adapt to this change, which is why we’re phasing out single-use cups by the end of 2026.

We can only reduce waste at such a scale with your help. Thank you for your support.