Business owners in a small town in England have trashed their own coffee shop to make a big statement to their customers about the impact of their actions.

Customers of Otto’s Coffee Shop in Sevenoaks, Kent, arrived one day in April to find they couldn’t enter, as the store was filled knee-deep with rubbish—15,000 discarded disposable coffee cups the owners had picked up around town over the course of a month.

Dubbing it “the walk of shame”, any customer who requested a disposable cup had to wade through the sea of used cups, while those who brought their own reusable cup were served at the door.

In a bold move, since May, the cafe has only sold to customers who bring their own reusable cup.

In an Instagram post, they (very bluntly!) explained their decision to take such drastic action.

“After some harrowing research we decided we couldn’t wait for our local council to pull their finger out of their arse, so we said #fuckthecup & took a pretty chunky risk to demonstrate that it can and should be done differently,” they wrote.

“There has been some very difficult conversations, we have lost some customers, there has been lots of lessons to learn VERY quickly, but overall we have received an unbelievable & overwhelming amount of support.

“Thank you to every-one who has burst through the doors with your #reuseable cup in hand. Thank you to all the business’s & individuals that have advised us & showed your support. Thank you to those of you that patiently let us explain what we are trying to achieve & left with a #reuseable cup in hand.”

In addition to ditching disposable cups, the cafe has its milk delivered the old-fashioned way—in glass bottles which are washed and refilled by the local dairy. They even collect the foil seals from the bottles for recycling.

Their coffee packaging is also 100 per cent recyclable, as the business aims to fulfil its mission to put “planet before profits”.