The British public believes retailers and coffee shops must do more to make their cups recyclable or biodegradable and most want any funds raised through bottle deposit schemes to go directly to charity, according to new research.

Research commissioned by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) found that 85% of those polled think that retailers and coffee shops need to work harder to ensure their cups are either recyclable or biodegradable.

The poll by YouGov found 79% of people stated that money raised through plastic bottle deposit schemes should go to charities, with around two-thirds wanting money to go directly to environmental causes. By contrast, only 3% of those surveyed said money raised should go to the government, and just 6% wanted to see it kept by the retailers themselves.

In the last few months alone, the government announced plans to trial a deposit return scheme in England for all drinks containers, and food chain Pret has introduced a plastic bottle deposit scheme in several locations.

CAF's Head of Research, Susan Pinkney, commented: "At a time when the 'Blue Planet effect' has seen all sorts of people discussing plastic waste in our oceans and the banning of plastic straws, many people clearly want to change their habits. We've already seen that progressive policies such as the 5p plastic bag levy introduced in October 2015 are working. CAF alone has distributed well in excess of £20m of funds raised from this levy to charitable organisations throughout the UK.

"Many charities do great work promoting recycling and supporting people at the same time. It’s heartening to see that people trust environmental charities and charities in general to receive funds raised from these levies, in order to provide their vital services to millions of people in the UK".