A charity café is offering customers half-price coffees to celebrate it joining a growing environmental movement in the city.

The Share Shop has agreed to stop using a range of single-use plastic items in an effort to help Chester become one of the first cities in the UK to be declared ‘plastic-free’.

To highlight this the Share Shop is offering customers who use their own reusable takeaway cup a 50% discount on any hot drink.

The shop and café on Northgate Street is run by the Chester-based charity Share, which provides support to homeless people and refugees.

Speaking about the decision, Adam Dandy, co-founder of Share, said: “When we heard about the #PlasticFreeChester campaign we wanted to get involved straight away.

“We’ve always done our bit to reduce waste, particularly plastic, but this really challenged us to think again how we could cut-back even more.

The Share Shop has agreed to stop using a range of single-use plastic items in an effort to help Chester become one of the first cities in the UK to be declared “plastic-free”
The Share Shop has agreed to stop using a range of single-use plastic items in an effort to help Chester become one of the first cities in the UK to be declared “plastic-free”

“It’s an absolutely fantastic campaign and we’ll do everything we can to help make Chester a ‘plastic-free’ city and we hope other businesses and organisations will as well,” Mr Dandy added.

Thanking the Share Shop for its support, Christian Dunn, one of the organisers of #PlasticFreeChester, praised the café for offering such a deal to customers.

“Hopefully with such a fantastic discount on hot drinks at the Share Shop it will encourage more people to bring their own cup and not use a single-use disposable one.”

“It’s all about getting people to rethink how much they’re using and throwing away every day, and incentives like a half-price coffee should help make sure people remember to bring their own cup to a café,” he said.

Helen Tandy from Friends of the Earth Chester and District, who are leading on the #PlasticFreeChester campaign with Surfers Against Sewage, urged other businesses to come forward to get involved.

“We’ve a set of guidelines we need to meet to be declared ‘plastic-free’. and one of those is getting businesses in the city to stop using a certain amount of single-use plastic,” said Mrs Tandy.

“Any business whatsoever can get involved, so if anyone would like to know more they can get in-touch with us through our website at PlasticFreeChester.org” she said.