Renewi engages in coffee cup recycling effort

Netherlands-based Renewi plc says it has found a recycling home for around 11 million disposable coffee cups in the Netherlands so far in 2018 through a collaboration with Beautiful Cups, a maker of single-serving cups based in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The Beautiful Cups are ideally suited for recycling, says Renewi, since they are made from 95 percent paperboard and just 5 percent polythene (PE) plastic. Renewi collects the cups at retail locations before  transporting them to Renewi’s facility in Breda, Netherlands, facility, where they are baled. From there they are shipped to a plant operated by WEPA Nederland BV, where custom technology separates the PE plastic interior of the cups from the paperboard exterior. Once separated, the paper is recycled into tissue paper and the PE plastic is recycled separately.

The Beautiful Cups are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, says Renewi, and for every 7,000 cups that are recycled, a new tree is planted in a rain forest in Indonesia. More than 3,000 trees have been planted in the rain forest so far, and the goal is to plant another 10,000 trees. The goal, if met, will reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 13,000 metric tons, according to Renewi.

“By working with Beautiful Cups, we offer our customers a sustainable concept that brings Renewi’s purpose to life: giving new life to used materials by recycling and recovering waste into valuable secondary raw materials,” says Otto de Bont, managing director of Renewi’s Commercial Waste Netherlands Division. “It is a completely circular process, as the products made from the cups can be supplied back to the original customer.”

 Adds Robert Wolff, the CEO of Beautiful Cups, “The aim of the circular collaboration between Renewi and Beautiful Cups is to support companies and organizations in achieving their sustainability goals.”

In the next three years, Renewi and Beautiful Cups expect to increase the number of cups recycled to more than 50 million each year. The same Beautiful Cups concept will be available in 10 countries in 2019, say the two firms.

Renewi, created in 2017 by the merger of United Kingdom-based Shanks Group plc and Netherlands-based Van Gansewinkel Groep BV, describes itself as a leading waste-to-product business. The firm has more than 8,000 employees in Europe and North America.