Waitrose in St Albans has celebrated the use of its last disposable cup as part of an initiative to go plastic-free.

Disposable coffee cups are being discontinued across all Waitrose stores in an effort to save more than 52 million cups a year.

Mayor cllr Rosemary Farmer visited the St Albans store as customer Jen Chown used the last disposable cup.

All MyWaitrose customers will still be able to claim a free tea or coffee from self-service machines when shopping in the store, but they will need a reusable cup.

As well as no longer supplying coffee cups, to help reduce the amount of plastic that is being thrown away Waitrose will be changing to paper straws in September, and reducing their plastic packaging.

Waitrose St Albans community matters champion Georgie Durbin said: “We feel this is a landmark in the fight to reduce our plastic waste. Waitrose wants to be at the forefront on reducing the amount of plastic that is thrown away.”