We have seen a big spike in interest regarding plastic cups and the environment, as businesses realise that sustainability is no longer just a nice-to-have, but vital to satisfy customer needs.

Cup Recycling

Paper cups and ripple cups have a thin plastic lining to make them waterproof. The plastic lining on most disposable coffee cups means they cannot be dealt with at conventional recycling facilities. Instead they can only be handled at specialist centres, only three of which exist in the UK.

Unrecycled cups are part of the broader problem of plastic waste, which is known to accumulate in the environment and harm wildlife. So it is down to businesses to ensure they have a recycling policy and process cups responsibly.

There is a cost involved in recycling, but Simply Cups run a programme of cup collections which are recycled into other usable products.

Please see www.simplycups.co.uk

Compostable Cups

Though compostable coffee cups provide a more sustainable alternative to paper cups with a plastic lining employed by most major coffee chains, they also require specialist management facilities to dispose of them correctly.

If they are not recycled responsibly, the majority will also end up on landfill.

Some businesses and smaller coffee retailers are switching to compostable cups in an effort to address the problem of disposable coffee cup waste. However, it remains the responsibility of the end user to process the cups.

As well as plastic and paper cups, Simply Cups will recycle your compostable cups… simplycups.co.uk

For compostable cups go to https://ecocoffeecompany.co.uk/product-category/takeaway/

The Answer: Re-usable Cups

The answer is promoting the use of reusable cups to replace plastic cups or paper cups with a plastic lining. Re-usable cups have a serious place in the market, and we would encourage their use as the environmentally friendly option.

We supply a range of sustainable, re-usable cups… ‘The Circle Cup’ is made using recycled paper cups, is leak-proof and has a 360º drinking design. We can also brand them for you for a minimum order of ONLY 96!

To see the range go to ‘circle cups’