Following months research, United Kingdom-based packaging and paper company DS Smith indicates it has found a way to use discarded coffee cups as paper mill feedstock. Using its mill in Kent, U.K., for testing purposes, the company has determined it could recycle up to 2.5 billion cups each year.
“We have been working around the clock to solve the throw-away coffee cup challenge, as enjoying a latte has become part of British culture,” says Peter Clayson, DS Smith Recycling’s general manager. “We could recycle up to 2.5 billion cups each year, but we need the recycling collection infrastructure to be far better if we are to reach the goal of recycling every last cup.”
He continues, “There are two challenges to recycling a high volume of coffee cups. Firstly, there is the plastic lining that must be removed from the cups. Then we need to ensure that the cups have not been too badly soiled by food waste. If we can work together with local councils, coffee sellers and the waste management sector to improve segregation of the cups and develop a comprehensive collection infrastructure, we can make a huge difference together.”
DS Smith has called for the U.K. government to enact measures to support better cup collection and provided details of its coffee cup recycling capacity to the PCRRG (Paper Cup Recycling and Recovery Group), of which it is a member.