Second Hand September 2025.

Anti-poverty charity Oxfam's Second-Hand September campaign is an annual event designed to reduce waste, take a stance against climate change and help people in need by encouraging shoppers to only buy pre-owned clothes for a month.

At Cafe2U, we like to do our bit for future generations by helping protect the environment wherever possible and, as a result, we're on course to become the UK's first carbon neutral coffee company. So what exactly makes us so environmentally-friendly? Here are the top three reasons!

We have a fleet of electric vans.

100% electric and 100% emission-free, with lithium-ion batteries instead of diesel generators, our electric vans have very few moving parts and more effective brakes. This means fewer replacement parts need manufacturing which, in turn, reduces our greenhouse gas emissions even further.

When we switched from petrol to electric-powered vans, we significantly reduced our CO² emissions in an instant, and we're determined to find more opportunities to reduce our company's emissions even more over the coming years.

We're big on recycling.

All our franchisees offer their customers the opportunity to recycle their paper cups to slow the rate at which new disposable cups are produced.

They also provide a coffee grounds recycling service, which helps counteract the 1.8 million tonnes of carbon emissions which are generated by the 500,000 tonnes of coffee waste that is disposed of in the UK annually. The initiative sees waste coffee grounds being recycled into biofuel pellets to power biomass boilers, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping keep the air cleaner.

All our food products come in 100% recyclable packaging too!

We're a digital franchise.

One thing you won't find much of around Cafe2U HQ and our franchisees' vans is paper. Operations at our head office are completely digitised and we no longer offer traditional loyalty cards or physical pamphlets - we have our own app which allows our customers to receive news, offers and updates digitally instead. By using less paper, we're keeping more trees in the ground where they can help remove harmful pollutants from the atmosphere.

Help reduce waste with Cafe2U.

While it's great to see more and more people becoming aware of the issue of waste reduction and trying to do something about it, a huge amount of work still needs to be done if the UK is going to eradicate the problem permanently.

If you're interested in investing in a clean, 100% emission-free franchise like Cafe2U, click here to find out more!

UK Compost Week 2025.

March 10th-16th is officially UK Compost Week 2025, an annual initiative designed to raise awareness of the environmental benefits of composting, such as reducing the amount of waste that is sent to landfill, and encourage people to get out in their gardens and give composting a go for themselves.

As a company that is proud of its sustainable credentials, we're big fans of anything that helps create a healthier natural environment and UK Compost Week does exactly that by helping to educate the public on the importance of composting organic materials to create healthier soils and reduce landfill waste.

But what exactly does the coffee industry have to do with composting and how can you get involved in this important event? Let's take a look!

Coffee and Compost.

Did you know that you can compost and recycle coffee grounds?!

Normally, used coffee grounds are thrown in the bin, where they end up as landfill or in an incinerator, but you can give your latte a second life by using used coffee grounds to help composting. By adding some used grounds to your compost heap, you'll improve its structure and attract worms, which speed up the process by turning food scraps into compost.

Other environmentally-friendly uses for old grounds include using them to:

• repel insects. Simply put the used grounds in a bowl outside and burn them like incense. The grounds are very potent and will drive pests away in no time.

• make fertiliser. Sprinkling used grounds - which are packed with key nutrients - on the soil surrounding your plants will encourage them to grow quicker.

• eliminate smells. A handful of used coffee grounds in your fridge will absorb food odours and ensure your meals taste like they should.

• clean your pans. A couple of spoonfuls of used coffee grounds are abrasive enough to clean the dirtiest of pans - just apply the grounds to a cloth and get scrubbing! Remember to check a small area of the pan first to make sure the grounds don't stain the surface though.

At Cafe2U, we periodically let customers take our used grounds away for free and we also offer an innovative coffee grounds recycling initiative which sees waste coffee grounds being recycled into biofuel pellets to power biomass boilers, significantly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

We also offer compostable cups which can be composted or recycled, reducing waste and ensuring fewer items are sent to landfill!

Do your bit this Compost Week.

While all these ideas are good news for the environment, they will only be successful if people adopt them, so why not support the nation's composting efforts by picking up a compostable cup next time you visit your local Cafe2U van and, if you could use some, take some of our used grounds away with you. You'll be helping us help the planet!

Find your nearest Cafe2U van here.