Borrow Cup
A scalable solution that makes eliminating disposable cups simple and practical — customers borrow a reusable cup with their drink and return it to any participating location across the network.
Why grab your next drink in a Borrow Cup?
In Scotland over 388 million disposable cups are used every year*, and in Glasgow they make up over 30% of drinks waste in on-street bins**. And while 3 in 4 of us own a personal reusable cup, only a third of us say we use one at least once a month.***
Enter Borrow Cup: a system to borrow and return a reusable cup from a cafe or restaurant – helping you skip the disposable cup, even when you’ve forgotten your reusable one!
Why’s that a good thing? Well, when a returnable cup system works, it can be better for the environment. Producing and throwing away (or even recycling) disposable cups can use more resources and create more carbon emissions than using a reusable cup over and over. The more we reuse, the more resources and emissions we save, reducing our environmental impact even more.
Check out Borrow Cup on the tv!
So how does it work?
Within only 9 months, Borrow Cup has been used 67,282 times – that’s once every 5 minutes!
78% of cups are returned to store to be washed or refilled
64% of Glaswegians surveyed have heard of Borrow Cup, with 200 pieces of press coverage and a comms campaign reaching over 1 million people.
The results so far
93% of customers thought it’s good for businesses to offer Borrow Cup, 90% liked being able to borrow and return at different locations, and 88% agreed it's easy to use.
Most employees agreed that Borrow Cup is beneficial for businesses to offer and were confident in how it works.
Want to get involved in Glasgow?
Grab your next drink in a Borrow Cup and tell others about it! We’d love it if you could snap a pic or take a video, post it on social media, tag @repositworldofficial and help spread the word.
Work or study in Glasgow? Ask your building/sustainability manager if you could set up a return point in your building so you can return your Borrow Cups without even having to step outside. Or if you use disposable cups on-site, your business or building could join Borrow Cup too! Get in touch with Reposit at hello@reposit.world
Got any feedback or ideas on how we could make Borrow Cup even better? We’d love to hear your thoughts - hello@reposit.world
For businesses
Borrow Cup provides the operational backbone, infrastructure and insights needed to run a successful returnable cup system. Designed to minimise friction for both customers and staff, it enables organisations to reduce disposable cup waste while improving sustainability performance and the overall customer experience.
A proven, scalable model
Borrow Cup launched in Glasgow in January 2025 as the UK’s first cross-brand collaborative returnable cup scheme. The pilot demonstrated that a simple, city-wide reuse system can deliver high return rates, strong public awareness and positive customer feedback — offering a blueprint for reuse models that work at scale.
Simple for customers, low-effort for operators
Customers borrow a reusable cup with their drink and return it to any participating location. With no apps or sign-ups required, the user journey mirrors single-use behaviour while reducing waste.
Operationally managed end-to-end
Reposit provides collection, washing and redistribution of cups, ensuring a consistent supply of clean cups with minimal operational burden for participating sites.
Data and insights that support decision-making
Through tracking and reporting, Borrow Cup generates real-world data on uptake, return rates and environmental impact — helping organisations measure outcomes and inform sustainability strategies.
Looking to partner with us?
Whether you want to join the network, host return points, or explore collaboration opportunities, we’d love to talk about how Borrow Cup can support your organisation’s sustainability goals. Get in touch with Reposit at hello@reposit.world
FAQs
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The £1 deposit is to encourage people to return the cup. You can get your £1 back by returning the cup to any participating store.
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There’s no time limit on this – you can return a cup on the same day, the next day, later that week, or you can keep using and refilling a Borrow Cup. If you have a Borrow Cup but you’re not using it, please return it so it can be put back into the system and reused.
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Scan the QR code on the return point with your phone, follow the instructions and put your cup in the crate. You’ll be emailed a £1 voucher to redeem your deposit at any participating store. Once activated, the voucher will expire after 5 minutes, so only activate it when you’re at the till. If you don’t have a smartphone or experience an issue when using the return point, you can also return your cup at the till point.
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Most disposable ‘paper’ cups are often lined with plastic, which is hard to separate from the paper. Unless you put it in a specific cup recycling bin (often found in major coffee shops), it can’t be recycled.
Producing and recycling or throwing away disposable cups can create more carbon emissions than using a reusable cup over and over again. This is why it’s so important to keep reusing or return your Borrow Cup, so we can reduce our environmental impact even more.
We’re working with an independent partner to measure the environmental impact of Borrow Cup compared to disposable cups, which will depend on how many Borrow Cups are used and returned.
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A lightweight plastic cup has less environmental impact to produce than alternatives such as steel, aluminium or glass. This means that by using plastic instead of another material, the cup requires fewer uses before it starts to have less environmental impact than disposable cups. The cup has also been thoroughly tested and meets the required health and safety standards.
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Using a reusable cup helps to reduce waste and our environmental impact, whether that's a Borrow Cup or your own cup, but if you don't have a reusable cup with you then that's where Borrow Cup comes in.
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Most compostable cups need to be industrially composted, which means they need to go in a specific compostable packaging bin – these can be few and far between! They can’t go in recycling bins and most councils can’t accept them in food waste bins either.
Even if a cup is certified as home compostable, UCL’s ‘Big Compost Experiment’ found that over 60% of home compostable packaging didn’t fully break down after six months!
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There’s lots of stores from the participating brands in Glasgow, meaning there can be lots of locations taking part in Borrow Cup. Scotland is also ahead of the other UK nations in terms of policies around waste reduction, reuse and tackling disposable cups, which may help the project to expand in future. Finally, Reposit are based in Wishaw, meaning the cups can be washed locally and transport distances can be kept to a minimum when collecting and delivering the cups.
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Yes
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Yes. Reposit will check all cups at the washing facility, any cups that aren’t fit to be reused will be sent for recycling.
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Yes
For businesses
If you’re a business or organisation in Glasgow that uses disposable cups and are keen to join the scheme, or host a return point, get in touch!
Want to get involved in Glasgow?
Want to spread the word about Borrow Cup? Drop us an email to receive our comms pack and help promote Borrow Cup to your network.
*Zero Waste Scotland, 2022, **Keep Scotland Beautiful, 2024