Cup Club Bude: a new returnable cup scheme

Aim

Our aim is simple: to make Bude single-use cup free. Cup Club Bude will replace disposable takeaway cups with a returnable reusable system.

An update from Lauren & Millie

We’re officially launching at Crooklets Beach Cafe TOMORROW, Saturday 11th October 2025 - making Bude the first town in Cornwall with a community returnable cup scheme! 🌍☕

We’re thrilled to have the backing of Ben Maguire, MP for North Cornwall, and Chris Hines MBE, co-founder of Surfers Against Sewage, who both see Cup Club Bude as a blueprint for tackling single-use waste.

✨ Thanks to your amazing support — and the Cornwall Council Climate & Nature Fund we’ve now unlocked our match funding!

Here’s where we stand:

• Current total: £2,997
• Remaining to hit our target: £1,003

We’re in the home stretch and with the deadline approaching, every pledge really counts. Let’s get Cup Club Bude over the line and show how our community can lead the way on cutting single-use waste. 

Come join us on launch day tomorrow, grab your first coffee in a Cup Club cup, and be part of the change!

Read more about Cup Club Bude

Drink. Return. Repeat.
A sustainable, circular returnable cup system for Bude.

This October, Bude will become the first town in Cornwall to launch a returnable cup scheme!

Led by The Circular Mindset, a new Community Interest Company, Crooklets Beach Café will be the first location to offer customers a simple borrow → enjoy → return system as an alternative to single-use takeaway cups.

The idea is simple:

• Borrow your drink in a Cup Club cup for a £1 deposit.
• Enjoy your coffee — at the beach, on the go, or wherever you like.
• Return your cup to Crooklets Café (with more cafés to follow as the scheme grows) and either collect your deposit or borrow another cup for next time.

The Bigger Picture: Why We're Crowdfunding

Thanks to a generous donation from a local community member, and support from our amazing partners at Circular&Co. — the Cornwall-based pioneers of reusable products — we’re ready to launch Cup Club Bude at Crooklets Beach Café this October.

But this is just the beginning...

To grow Cup Club Bude into a town-wide scheme, we need your help. 

Your support will help us:

• Expand to more cafés in Bude
• Increase the number of returnable cups
• Create signage and collection stations
• Develop and maintain our website

Where Your Money Will Go:

Overfunding:

This project is enabled for overfunding. If the project hits its funding goal before the end of the campaign period, any extra funds raised will be spent (in order of priority) on: 

• Expanding the scheme to a wider area 
• Web design & updates 
• Website maintenance

Why a Returnable Cup Scheme?

The UK uses 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year — and less than 1% are recycled.
Many of these cups are lined with plastic or are compostable only in industrial facilities — meaning most end up in landfill or as litter.

For cafés, these cups come with recurring costs. For the environment, they come with an even bigger price.

With Bude’s strong sense of community, thriving independents, and growing focus on sustainability, we have the chance to lead the way in tackling this waste problem.

Let’s Do Coffee, Better

We believe Bude can be an example for other towns by offering a cost-effective, convenient, and planet-friendly alternative to single-use cups.

• No need to carry your own cup
• No more single-use waste
• Just simple, circular coffee

Support Cup Club Bude today — and help us make sustainable coffee the new normal.

Together, we can protect Bude’s beauty — one cup at a time.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made