Paper Cup Recycling Scheme Kicks off with High Profile Members at Arsenals Emirates Stadium

The official launch event of a London wide paper cup recycling scheme, held today at Arsenal Football Club’s Emirates Stadium, saw the addition of the UK’s largest coffee shop chain, Costa, as its latest member. SIMPLY CUPS, a partnership formed between Closed Loop Environmental Services and Simply Waste Solutions, has been running since the beginning of the month, and is intended to help address the burgeoning issue of how to recycle the 2.5 billion paper cups used in the UK each year. Speaking to WMW, Nick Cliff, marketing manager at Closed Loop explained that the company had been following various trends such as the opening of paper manufacturer, James Cropper’s paper cup recycling facility and ACE-UK’s beverage carton recycling plant. “It was about assembling all the pieces together,” he said. “We just put those points together, and along the way we realised that what we needed was a logistics partner - and that’s where Simply Waste came in.” James Capel, managing director of Simply Waste Services told WMW that: “Closed Loop Environmental Solutions is adept at establishing markets for recyclable material and matching that material to available infrastructure.” “Simply Waste Solutions, being a waste management company, is in a position to cost effectively collect what are relatively small volumes of material and send that into the available infrastructure after Closed Loop has secured the availability of those facilities,” he added. According to Capel, Simply Waste’s involvement began around six months ago at a Paper Cup Recovery Group meeting, where it became clear that one of the missing links in the supply chain was a waste management company that was able to collect the cups at a competitive price. With all the pieces in place, and following an application for funding which was rejected for ‘a number of conflicting reasons’, the two companies decided to go it alone. Growing member list Once out of the starting blocks the scheme began to attract a number of high profile founding members, including national retailer John Lewis Partnership’s catering division and facilities management companies, Baxter Storey and ISS Facility Services. Cup manufacturers Huhtamaki and Solo Cup Europe also signed up, as did a number of prominent industry associations and environmental charities including WRAP, the Automated Vending Association and Keep Britain Tidy. The latest member, Costa, has concession outlets located at corporate offices, universities and transport hubs. Speaking at the event, Ollie Rosevear, energy and environment manager at Whitbread, the parent company of Costa, said: “Obviously Costa uses a lot of paper cups, and we realise that the paper cup is a very recognisable part of the company. With this scheme we’re looking to ensure our corporate customers can utilise the SIMPLY CUPS solution to recycle their cups.” But it’s not just in recycling used cups that Costa sees an opportunity to boost the environmental credentials of its paper cups, it’s also looking at ways in which it can help its customers use less. “Alongside our membership of SIMPLY CUPS, we have also recently launched a new cup designed to reduce the apparent temperature of the exterior of the cup by evenly distributing the heat around the cup,” explained Rosevear. “This means that the customers’ hands do not get too hot when holding a single cup eliminating the need for an additional sleeve or double cupping,” he continued. “We’re hoping to reduce our cup usage in the UK by around 7% though that,” concluded Rosevear. For more on this story keep an eye out for tomorrow's WMW Weekly Newscast. Read More Pulp Fraction Recycled into Coreboard at UK's First Carton Recycling Facility The UK’s first beverage carton recycling facility has been opened in Stainland, near Halifax by the Alliance for Beverage Cartons & the Environment (ACE) UK and paper and packaging producer Sonoco Alcore. Beverage Carton Recycling Rate Continues to Rise in Europe ACE UK added that it has a dedicated recycling team which offers advice and support to local authorities and community recycling networks wishing to collect beverage cartons. 18,000 TPA Recycling Contract for Viridor in Hertfordshire UK waste and recycling firm, Viridor, has secured a contract to process and market dry recyclate materials for Dacorum Borough Council’s kerbside recycling collections.