DISPOSABLES & RECYCLING
Recycling transformation
Since VI last featured the environmental threat posed by disposable coffee cups, the UK now has the capacity to recycle and repurpose every single cup on the High Street. So, what’s changed in the last 12 months.
When VI explored the subject in January 2018, the threat of a 25p ‘latte levy’ was looming thanks to shocking revelations that 2.5 billion coffee cups were being disposed of in landfill every year – enough to circle the planet five and a half times. Once thought to be ‘unrecyclable’ due to cups’ internal polyethylene lining, paper cup experts have dispelled so-called misconceptions contending that it is more a matter of getting the cups to the appropriate facilities.
Enter the Paper Cup
Recovery and Recycling Group (PCRRG) which over the past couple of years has embraced the need for change and has been working hard to engage the entire supply chain in recycling and sustainable practices. These changes are now
rapidly taking shape. In October, the PCRRG announced that coffee cup recycling rates had increased from an estimated 1 in 400, to 1 in 25 in just two years and are expected to rise further to 1 in 12 in 2019.
Add to that, cup recycling points
have been established in large numbers, while local authorities, waste collectors, re-processers and councils are now fully engaged in cup recycling programmes (See sidebar). All this now gives the UK the capacity to recycle all of its paper cups. Marketing manager for Benders
Adrian Pratt
Cups (a PCRRG founding member), Adrian Pratt added: “Within the industry, businesses from across the paper cup supply chain are recognising the need for change. They understand that consumers must be educated, and additional infrastructure needs to be in place for the successful recycling of paper cups.” Through a collaborative programme of workshops and seminars,
the PCRRG believes that by 2020 the nation will have access to information, schemes and facilities where paper cups can be sustainably recovered and recycled. Neil Whittall, chairman of the PCRRG said: “The industry can be
justly proud of the progress it has made so far but of course we know that there is more work to do. Consumers are rightly demanding change and Government is keen to make that happen.
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