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At the forefront
of recycling
VI takes a look at the options available for disposing of waste…
T
he Save a Cup scheme was established by the vending, food
service and plastics industries to collect the millions of hard wall
polystyrene cups used in the UK every week. The scheme is run
by the Save a Cup Recycling Company, the objective of which is
to increase the number of cups collected in line with Government
targets for recycling packaging waste.
Following a number of enquiries from both the trade and its
clients, Save a Cup diversified its collection and recycling scheme in
2007 to include both paper and polypropylene disposable cups. For
the diverse scheme to operate successfully, segregation of the
different types of cups at source is paramount, says the company,
with a colour coded system set up to make separating waste easier
for businesses.
The environment is a growing concern and businesses must be
seen to be doing their bit. Save a Cup points out that not only is TECHNOLOGY DESIGNED FOR RECYCLING ON THE GO
waste disposal expensive and problematic, the scheme also helps to On the Go Recycling says: “The ever increasing trend of snacking
enhance your green credentials and could help you retain ISO-14001 on the go means that ‘out of home’ recycling looks set to remain a
accreditation. hot topic this year. To help meet this demand, ‘on the go’ recycling
Talking to Vending International in July last year, Chairman and facilities have become a fixture in a number of shopping centres,
Acting Managing Director David Hoskin explained the challenges schools and leisure centres.”
faced: “There is no doubt we were well ahead of the game when we The Reverse Vending Corporation is a leading UK distributor and
started and at the time a lot of companies felt they were doing us a operator of Reverse Vending machines that utilise advanced technology
favour by using our service. However, attitudes have changed as the to identify, sort, collect and process used beverage containers.
recycling issue has taken centre stage in recent years. We still need Used in Europe for over three decades, they are used in markets
more support from companies if we are to operate even more that have deposits on beverage containers, offering a highly efficient
successfully. The difficulty we face with the consumer recycling is method of identifying the deposit amount of each container returned
they have to be motivated to separate the rubbish themselves. It’s and providing a refund to the customer, says the company. This
either that or we do it for them and that costs more to facilitate, normally comes in the shape of a voucher, automatically dispensed
which in turn makes them more reluctant to recycle. As an industry by the RVMs to be redeemed in store at a supermarket, or used
we are under a lot of pressure to recycle but getting the support isn’t towards the purchase a related incentive product. The RVMs are
easy. A lot more could be done with the waste too – the government accessible remotely, allowing updates, voucher details, bar code data
could link up with us to turn polystyrene cups into rulers for schools bases etc to be updated via the internet from anywhere in the world.
etc. If we had clean burn furnaces, we could even turn some of the The great thing about these types of machines is that over time they
waste into renewable energy,” he said. capture a lot of interesting data, including which brands are being
The Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group meanwhile, were recycled and how often. The opportunities here for loyalty marketing
formed with the objective of identifying an ongoing sustainable route and for monitoring the extent, to which brands are effective in
or routes for the recovery and subsequent recycling of paper cups and spreading the recycling message, are endless. The setting in which
similar products. Working with The Fibre Technology Association, Save the machine is located, is in a perfect position to look at joined up
a Cup and other major companies involved in the supply chain, the marketing efforts that offer good incentives to recycle, maintaining
group is committed to investigating the options to recover and recycle customer loyalty and perhaps winning a few new ones in the process.
paper cups in line with current government guidelines, including the According to the Reverse Vending Corporation, there are now nearly
Waste Hierarchy and to provide an alternative to land filling. 19,000 reVend Reverse Vending Recycling Machines installed in the UK.
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