RECYCLING
Education key to greater cup recycling take-up
Recycling of single-use cups saves valuable resources, impacts carbon, and reduces littering. With the announcement of a delay to new legislation, Hannah Osman, National Cup Recycling manager from the National Cup Recycling Scheme at Valpak, explains why NHS Trusts are still focusing on cups. From October 2025, hospitals selling drinks in single-use cups will have to set up segregated cup recycling collections.
While the NHS is best-known for its healthcare provision, we all know it takes an army of support services to keep the machine running smoothly. Catering teams look after patients, while on-site cafés and vendors serve drinks and snacks around the clock – and every meal and drink consumed requires planning – from procurement through to waste disposal. Many of the drinks consumed on NHS Trust sites are served in single-use cups. While new government legislation plans to tackle the impact of disposables, Reconomy brand, Valpak – the administrator of the National Cup Recycling Scheme – is also seeing hospitals turn their attention to cups in order to address consumer demands around waste. Single-use cups can be recycled up
to seven times and, as long as they are collected as a separate waste stream, they provide high-quality material for recycling, help to reduce carbon, cut down on littering, and decrease the volume of waste sent to landfill or energy recovery. In an NHS setting, with the majority of cups remaining on site, hospitals represent a valuable opportunity for cup recycling. From October 2025, any business with more than 10 employees that provides
filled fibre-based beverage cups to staff or customers will need to report twice a year on both the volume of cups sold, and the weight of cups being sent for recycling. They will also be required to host take-back schemes on site. This means hospitals selling drinks in single- use cups will have to set up segregated cup recycling collections, and find a waste collector willing to accept them as a separate stream. Originally, the new system was planned for 2024, but a delay to a raft of new laws under Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging has also resulted in a postponement to the takeback of single-use cups. The new regime will now begin in 2025.
Why is the legislation taking effect? The Government plans to bring cup disposal into line with the waste hierarchy, which prioritises reduction and re-use over recycling, which, in turn, sits above recovery and landfill. As well as introducing the concept of extended producer responsibility – otherwise known as the ‘producer pays’ principle – which makes the ‘producers’ of waste items accountable for correct disposal, the legislation aims to increase the use of reusables and drive
greater recycling. This should, in turn, help to reduce littering, and make recycling systems more accessible.
What does it mean for hospitals? When the new legislation on cups takes effect, data collection will take on far greater importance. Trusts will also need to navigate in-house take-back. For a standard café, this is relatively straightforward, but for hospitals, which house a range of services and vendors, implementation can be more tricky. Under mandatory take-back, disposable cups sold in both cafeterias and ‘on the go’, will need to be collected through in-store and front of house collection points like hospital foyers. Collections must accept any brand of cup, including those which have been purchased at other locations. Cups need to be collected as a separate
waste stream, with liquids removed. Although contamination of up to around 5% is manageable, collection bins and tubes placed in public areas tend to see higher levels of other wastes – mainly FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) products such as crisp packets – finding their way into waste cup containers. National Cup Recycling scheme
The style of boxes and bins chosen can have a major impact. 76 Health Estate Journal March 2024
The Government plans aligning cup disposal with the waste hierarchy, which prioritises reduction and re-use over recycling.
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