Waitrose Changes Free Drink Scheme AGAIN

• New conditions to get a free hot drink
• Affects members of the myWaitrose scheme
• Other changes were made to it earlier this year

Supermarket Waitrose has announced plans to change its hot drinks scheme to myWaitrose Card holders.

The store will be removing all disposable coffee cups in its shops from autumn, as part of an effort to reduce plastics and packaging.

This will change how member of the loyalty scheme can get their free tea or coffee.

Although these will still be available, customers will need to bring in a reusable coffee cup from home to get one.

Members also will not be able to claim their free hot drink in the supermarket’s 180 in-store cafes, to avoid customers without a reusable cup putting pressure on the catering areas.

Instead, members who purchase a tea or coffee in a cafe will get a choice of food options for free, or with a discount, the company said.

This is not the first time Waitrose has made changes to its loyalty scheme- earlier in the year it changed how rewards will be given out to customers.

Sainsbury’s could also be making changes to its Nectar card points, which has angered customers online.

Cups will start to disappear from nine shops from the 30th April, before the scheme is rolled out nationwide in autumn.

Waitrose said that this will save more than 52 million cups a year, the majority of which would go to landfill as they are hard to recycle.

Tor Harrie, Head of Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing at Waitrose, said, “We realise this is a major change, but we believe removing all take away disposable cups is the right thing to do for our business, and are confident that the majority of customers will support the environmental benefits.

“It underlines our commitment to plastic and packaging reduction and our aim is to deliver this as quickly as possible.”

Which nine stores will be affected?

The scheme will be starting in the following nine stores on the 30th April- Banbury, Oxfordshire; Billericay, Essex; Ipswich, Suffolk; Newmarket, Suffolk; Norwich, Norfolk; Sudbury, Suffolk; Wymondham, Norfolk; Upminster, East London; Fitzroy Street, Cambridge.

If one of these is your local Waitrose, make sure to buy a reusable coffee cup before then.

What do you think of the changes? Let us know in the comments.