A council has continued its crackdown on single use plastics by rolling out a reusable bottle and cup scheme.

East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC) has teamed up with East Cambs Street Scene to provide all of their employees and elected members with a water bottle and coffee cup.

All reusable water bottles and coffee cups were handed out to staff by ECDC’s recycling superhero, Michael, last week.

Councillor Anna Bailey, leader of ECDC, said: “We are committed to reducing single use plastics across the district and would encourage others to do the same.

“The environmental impact of plastic bottles in the UK is phenomenal. Recent statistics have revealed that the average person uses 150 plastic water bottles a year – around three per week.

“It is imperative that we all do our bit to reduce single use plastics and, in turn, protect the environment.”

The statistics, from Water UK, also estimate that around 700,000 plastic bottles are littered every day in the UK.

The initiative follows the Council’s purge on plastics in which it committed to several pledges including eliminating unnecessary single use plastic packaging, helping to ensure all plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable and help increase the ease in which plastic packaging can be collected and recycled across the district.

Previously, ECDC had to send coffee cups to a specialist company to be recycled at a further cost. The cups contain a thin film of plastic which had to be removed prior to recycling.

Councillor Julia Huffer, member champion for waste, health and wellbeing at ECDC, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer our reusable bottles and coffee cups to our staff.

“The scheme proves that we are serious about reducing plastic bottle waste by encouraging everyone to refill their water bottles and coffee cups to reduce the impact on the environment.

“It is part of a wider initiative to encourage people to bring their own bottle to meetings and encourage visitors to planning committee or full council meetings to also bring their own bottle.”

As part of the commitment to the purge on plastics, all cups will be removed from the Grange from October 1 for all committee meetings.