Now, anybody wanting to do their bit to reduce their plastic useage can purchase the cup  with a trim and lid in a choice of two colours (blue or purple) from the wildlife charity’s Lookout Café at its Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre on Druridge Bay or its café and visitor centre at Northumberlandia near Cramlington.

The cups are made from 80% rice husk and 20% plant resin and are priced at £7. 

Anybody purchasing a cup will receive a free tea or filter coffee and returning customers using either this or their own reusable cup, will receive a 20p discount on tea or filter coffee each time they take it to wither locations. 

This is part of the wildlife charity’s backing of a national campaign to reduce the number of disposable cups being used in the UK. 

The new cup was tested this week by Morpeth resident and Northumberland Wildlife Trust volunteer Joel Wilmore, who said: “An estimated five million disposable cups are used every day around the world - this is having such a devastating impact  on our marine life, so, needless to say I’m more than happy to do my bit.”