Coffee cup recycling scheme targets office buildings
Wednesday, June 21, 2017 - 12:27:34
The growing concerns surrounding the amount of waste generated by Britain’s love affair with hot drinks have been well publicised, with a new project launched by Veolia setting out to provide recycling facilities for coffee cups in offices across the country.
Materials Recycling World reports that various workplaces will be receiving special bins which are built to help separate the different components of the typical takeaway coffee cup, dealing with the leftover liquid that is often contained within them at the same time.
The body of a cup is usually made of paper coated internally with plastic to keep the hot drink inside it. This means that the recycling process has to pulp the paper and remove the plastic to avoid cross-contamination.
There are recycling facilities both domestically and in other nations which can achieve this, so the cups collected as part of this scheme will be shipped out depending on collection volumes and demand.
The resultant recycled material can be turned into many different items once properly processed, from egg cartons to cavity wall insulation, so there is an undoubtedly eco-friendly alternative to simply throwing a used cup into the general waste bins in the office.
Veolia spokesperson, Estelle Brachlianoff, said that the firm had been working with major cafe chains, including Starbucks and Costa, to address the issues associated with recycling cups that are contaminated before arriving at the relevant facilities. It is hoped that by providing separate bins for the cups, these obstacles will be overcome.
She urged businesses and recycling providers to communicate and collaborate on schemes like this in order to ensure that day to day operations can be made more sustainable. Organisations of all sizes are being encouraged to recycle e-waste, as well as especially old mobile phones and computer equipment, which can do harm to the environment if not properly processed.
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