Following last week’s flurry of food-related reports, the news cycle slowed to a more manageable pace this week as holiday season fast approaches. That’s not to suggest there’s nothing (aside from yet another mince pie) for the Digest to get its teeth into however.
We begin with the latest set of results from the Borrow Cup initiative which aims to demonstrate the viability of a collaborative, city-wide returnable cup system, with Glasgow acting as guinea pig. Over the past nine months, environmental charity Hubbub and reuse system provider Reposit have worked with over 50 outlets, including leading coffee shop brands and local independents, to pilot the scheme which is based on an opt-in model.
The headline results are that Borrow Cup achieved a 78% reuse rate and was used 67,282 times, equivalent to someone grabbing a brew in a returnable cup every five minutes. Uptake averaged 3%, which was lower than expected and therefore limited efficiencies in logistics and washing, however some locations achieved up to a 69% weekly uptake rate. 73% of returns were to the same store as purchase, with 93% of returns at the till point and 7% at return points.
Digging deeper, the results revealed key insights about when such a scheme works well and when it struggles to gain traction. Organisers reported strong reuse and return rates in venues with longer dwell times, highly engaged teams and a charge on disposable cups. By contrast, uptake was limited in high-street settings where customers had less dwell time, staff faced competing priorities, and messaging often didn’t reach customers at the crucial decision point to influence behaviour due to in-store limitations.
“Despite these challenges, the collaborative model proved both popular and practical,” said Gavin Ellis, director at Hubbub. “Our learning is clear: make reuse easy, embed it into day-to-day operations, use financial levers, and focus communications right at the point of purchase. Only until these conditions are met can returnable packaging work at scale and deliver meaningful environmental impact.”
From Glasgow to Brussels where lawmakers have failed to agree – for now at least – a ban on meat-based descriptions of plant-based alternative products. In October, the European Parliament voted to ban the use of words like “burger” or “steak” to describe plant-based variants, however talks this week between the EU Commission, Council and Parliament failed to reach agreement on the proposal, with discussions pushed back until 2026.
UK regulators, meanwhile, have ruled that cell-cultivated products do not satisfy the legal definition of meat for food hygiene purposes, as Footprint reported on Wednesday. The newly published guidance does not cover product naming and so does not necessarily mean cell-cultivated products will be unable to describe themselves as meat when being offered to the end consumer, but it does suggest another debate is brewing over just how closely novel products must be distinguishable from meat produced in a traditional way on labels and menus.
Sticking with the meat theme, more than 30 leading European food companies have urged the European Commission to end the use of cages in animal farming across Europe. Statements signed by companies including Bompieri Group, Fumagalli Industria Alimentari, Co-op UK, and Accor, and coordinated by Compassion in World Farming, have called on the Commission to prioritise and enact strong legislation to ban the use of cages for hens, sows and rabbits across Europe. It follows a joint letter in September from 18 businesses that have already implemented cage-free supply chains for laying hens, including Lidl, Sodexo and Ferrero Group, calling on lawmakers to prohibit the use of cages and create a level playing field across Europe and non-EU trade. “Companies know the future is cage-free, and this statement is a powerful endorsement of the EU’s expected legislation to phase out the use of cages in Europe,” said Vinciane Patelou, head of EU at Compassion in World Farming.
This week also saw the launch of a new Footprint Intelligence report into the issue of nitrites used in making ham and bacon following their links to cancer. The results of a consumer survey showing public demand for more nitrite-free options features among this week’s other stories, alongside a sustainability update from Heineken and news of a dreadful harvest for UK arable farmers.
