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items that are relatively bulky but lightweight compared to other paper materials. And so on.
All of these created a chicken-and-egg problem for paper cup recycling. Without a reliable supply of recycled material, the end markets for that material can’t develop. But without those end markets, waste management companies have no incentive to invest in paper cup recycling, which means there is no supply of recycled material, and so on and so on.
At James Cropper, CupCycling is our answer to these problems. It’s a dedicated recycling system just for paper cups that strips away the plastic barrier lining (which itself goes on to be recycled separately) from paper cups before pulping them and turning them into high-quality paper and moulded fibre products.
This improves access to recycled paper material and sows the seeds that profitable end markets can use to thrive – end markets like book printing.
DETERMINATION AND DISRUPTION “I’ve always thought that if I did my own book, I’d want it to be a special book – an environmentally friendly book, I suppose,” Hayley says. “I thought it should be made from recycled content. Working in the waste industry, I know how much paper is generated and wasted every day, and I feel like it’s a natural resource that we could all do more with. “I contacted some publishers with the idea,” she continues. But unfortunately, she ran into the same old negative perceptions about recycled paper. “Nobody wanted to know. It got my back up, and I said, ‘We can do better than that’.
“Then I was put in touch with Rob Tilsley at James Cropper.”
“Rob explained the cup recycling process and told me it was possible to make a book from coffee cups,” Hayley says. Initially, she envisioned a story about recycled batteries, having run successful engagement campaigns on the topic before in her role at Biffa. But, once she was introduced to CupCycling, the
story of Little Coffee Cup started to take shape. “I’ve always thought it’s best to target children to help us create behaviour change. Once children know something is wrong, they will quite happily tell you it’s wrong – for example, not to put anything in the wrong bin. They quite like having that power and knowledge to spread.
A NEW DAWN FOR PRINTING AND PUBLISHING
In less than six months, the story and artwork had been fleshed out, and Little Coffee Cup embarked on the adventure that many in the printing industry said was impossible - complete with charming artwork that blended real-life photography with illustration. The final product uses around 13 coffee cups in its 36 pages, upcycled into an inspiring story about engaging with the circular economy and crisply printed in vivid colours. They had plenty of help in testing their work – Hayley’s two children provided regular feedback, as did dozens of local
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