One Pot Pledge Launched

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Turn your discarded coffee cup into mini allotment

Londoners are being encouraged to make use of their coffee cups and have a go at growing.

The One Pot Pledge campaign run by leading charity, Garden Organic, aims to get people to grow something edible for the first time by championing the re-use of everyday objects.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, and Rosie Boycott helped launch the project today and urged take-away coffee drinkers to look at their daily cup in a whole new light – as a one pot allotment.

With an estimated 88,218 disposable cups used every 15 minutes in the UK, the charity has turned to British coffee houses to help it raise awareness of how a basic cup can be re-used in a positive way to grow our own food either at work or at home.

In central London, discarded drink related rubbish is estimated to account for a third of litter.

Rosie and the One Pot Pledge team set up at one of London’s busiest Pret stores to challenge take-away coffee buyers to bring their empty cups back to sow their own herbs, all for free.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, also pledged his support by planting up a paper coffee cup at City Hall with coriander.

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said:

"I urge Londoners to sign up to the fantastically simple One Pot Pledge. In doing so, you too can give the humble coffee cup another fruitful purpose by nurturing a myriad of herbage to then munch on."

Rosie Boycott, Chair of London Food, said: "What’s great about this campaign is that it encourages people to take baby steps in food growing starting with discovering the joy of nurturing one mini-garden in a coffee cup. From this simple start I hope more Londoners will get the 'grow your own' bug. Rather than chuck away the now ubiquitous coffee cups, let's use them to create acres of food!"

May 18, 2010