Closed Loop Environmental Solutions and Simply Waste Solutions join forces to offer a cost-efficient paper cup recycling solution.
If you think your paper coffee and tea cups are currently being recycled, think again. The stark truth is that, since the collapse of Britain’s only cup recycling scheme in 2010, the 2.5 billion paper cups used in the UK each year have been sent to general waste where they are either landfilled or incinerated.
But now, thanks to Simply Cups, a partnership between Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, a pioneer of plastics recycling, and recycling-focussed waste contractor Simply Waste Solutions, a new scheme is being launched on the 1st August in the UK that will provide paper cup manufacturers, organisations operating in the supply chain as well as beverage and hospitality outlets with a cost-efficient collection and recycling service that will reduce their operating costs and improve their environmental credentials. Simply Cups will operate initially within the M25 and Thames Valley area but is expected to quickly evolve into a nationwide service.
The previous attempts to operate a cup recycling service failed because the technology was simply not available to separate out the polyethylene lining from the cardboard content at an economically viable rate. Now, however, a number of processing plants in the UK have sprung up which can perform this task at a cost that makes it attractive for any business that uses paper cups as well as recyclers themselves.
Peter Goodwin, Director of Closed Loop, commented, “For too long paper cup recycling has literally been in its cups. Our new service will provide any business, operating within the hospitality and beverage supply chain, with a cup collection and recycling service that will in fact help reduce their overall waste disposal costs. This will be game changing for cup manufacturers and beverage outlets which have been caught in the media spotlight due to the absence of any recycling solutions”.
James Capel, Managing Director of Simply Waste Solutions, added, “The bulk collection of cups will be processed here in the UK and, once the materials are recovered, they will be manufactured into new end-use products all within the UK, which is a perfect example of how recycling should work”.