A hospital trust is introducing reusable cups to slash the number of disposable cups sold in its restaurants by 180,000 in two years.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has brought in black and lime green reuseable cups in all of its outlets at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.

Last year, the trust used 390,000 disposable cups in its restaurants, cafes and retail outlets and the aim is to halve that amount by 2020.

(From left): Neil Woods, Caleb Ruffus-Isaacs, Hannah James and Bob Scutt

Cups cost £5.50 or £5.75 with a hot drink and staff, visitors and patients will receive a 10p discount on all future hot drinks.

Catering manager Neil Woods said the trust would also be introducing discounts for people bringing in their own reusesable cups in the next few weeks.

He said: “This is a win-win for everyone – the trust saves money on disposable cups, people save money on their drinks and the environment benefits because we’re reusing rather than buying single-use cups destined for landfill.

“We are looking at ways of reducing our environmental footprint over the coming weeks and months by introducing changes in our catering and retail outlets.

“But we’re asking staff, visitors and patients to play their part. People can help by “eating in” and using crockery and cutlery rather than taking their food away in plastic containers, using plastic cutlery.

“Together, we can make a huge difference.”