09 Ind Save a Cup:Layout 1 05/03/2010 13:34 Page 9
News
Save a Cup Recycling
Presentation to the
Trade
More than 60 attendees were present at the Society of Chemical Industry in London’s Belgrave Square
for Save a Cup’s 2010 Presentation to the Trade on 11 February 2010.
Those in attendance were captivated by the changes for this year’s meeting. In a departure from
previous formats, three outside speakers presented their specific topics, followed by an interactive
session with operators, to deliberately solicit informal views ‘from the floor’.
F
irst to speak was Jan Schürmann, CEO of SwissPrimePack, who 50% were already recycled, which left 30,000 tonnes aluminium
presented ‘A few thoughts on Recycling PS Vending Cups’. He and 12,000 tonnes of steel to be recovered. However, there was a
said PS cups were ideal for vending but had a bad image, given ‘business to business’ hole in the collection scheme and Jane said
that they were generally considered to be pure waste. Even that this was where Save a Cup fitted in to the overall process.
aluminium had been able to generate a better image over past Save a Cup Director Roger Williams, himself an operator (founder
decade and gave the example of progress in Switzerland. and owner of Coinadrink) led the operator debate. With only half a
Jan’s view was that Save a Cup is an excellent, innovative scheme, dozen operators present, despite much telephone canvassing prior to
but its success rate is still too weak. It must be targeting a recycling the day, it was obviously not a priority for many.
rate of 50% plus. Collection of cups is crucial – but is complicated One approach to recycling appeared to be one of ‘duvet
and rather expensive. Recycling Food to Food packaging is the most management’, i.e. put your head under and hope it goes away!
powerful solution but in any case broader support (industry and However if the question of recycling did arise then the reaction was
governmental) was needed to really make an impact. simply to quote the Save a Cup scheme and refer the client to it.
Communication to end-consumers and influencers was a crucial There was no positive push by operators.
task – getting the essential message across was key: ‘This cup will be It was commented that whilst the industry knowledge base might be
recycled into a flower pot, etc.’ (single stream) vs. ‘You are drinking poor, Save a Cup’s promotional material is non-existent. There was a
from a recycled cup’ (close loop). need for better communication to client but also to the operators. We
The second presenter, Phillipe Montaigne, Product Manager all needed to make a concerted push to get Save a Cup onto a new level.
Polystyrene Europe for Total Petrochemicals, put PS into the total It was observed that Save a Cup needs to grow to £5m. Growth
plastics market. It was a relatively small proportion at 15m tonnes would ensure financial stability and reduce the need for trade funding.
per annum compared to the 80m for PE, 50m for PP and 40m for Much faith was being placed in the new website and that was being
PET. rewarded. As it continued to develop it would bring in more new clients.
There were three options for dealing with waste: landfill, recycling, David Hoskin said big clients were to be targeted specifically. Paper
or waste to energy. In the U.K. 67% went to landfill, 19% was and can clients were also being targeted to add to PS cup clients.
recycled and 14% was used for energy production. In France it was There was to be an aggressive pricing policy for sacks and admin
45% / 17% / 38% and Germany had impressive stats of 4% / 33% / charges in 2010/2011. The Environmental Charge was to be
63%. Landfill is unsustainable; the option therefore is recycling or maintained at the same level next year.
waste to energy, as demonstrated by the Germans. He stated that with the growth of demand for recycled PS there
Philippe stated that the energy value of PS is the same as was a need to consider polystyrene sacks for collecting PS cups …
gasoline, and better than wood or paper. ‘Waste to Energy’ was a and paper sacks for paper cups. This would mean more efficient
good option, but there was the obvious need for using recycling processes.
environmentally friendly furnaces. He closed the meeting by confirming: “The key objective for
Moving on to aluminium recycling, Jane Carver, Programme 2010/2011 is for growth; we will be working through the website and
Manager from Alupro, informed the audience that the UK market with the Trade to make this happen.”
consumed 8 billion drinks cans per annum. 30% of cans were For further information, please contact David Hoskin, Chairman, at
consumed ‘away from home’. davidhoskin@sky.com
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