Costa rolls out recycling scheme UK-wide, and will take in ‘any cup’

From:FoodBev

British coffee giant Costa has launched a nationwide recycling scheme across over 2,000 of its stores in order to recover and convert its takeaway cups.

Takeaway cups from rival chains will also be accepted by Costa in order to increase the number of cups recycled across the country. Customers will be encouraged to leave or return their takeaway cups to a Costa store where they will be collected by Costa team members and stored on a cup rack, until Costa’s waste partner, Veolia, can transport them to specialist waste processing plants with capability to recycle the coffee cups.

Following a successful trial in over 45 stores across London and Manchester, the recycling racks will be rolled out nationwide at the end of January 2017 with the clear message that Costa will recycle any paper takeaway cup, regardless of the brand it came from.

Jason Cotta, managing director of Costa UK & Ireland, said: “As the UK’s largest coffee shop brand, with stores up and down the country, we want to make it as easy as possible for the public to recycle their used coffee cups. Our research in Manchester and London shows around 40 cups per day are left in stores, which means we have the potential to recycle 30 million Costa cups a year.

“What’s more, the fact that we will accept competitors’ cups means we could significantly increase that figure. This will not be a trial. This is going to be business as usual.”

In addition to the scheme, Costa is funding research at Sheffield University into cup recyclability and currently donates £0.25 to litter charities every time a customer uses a reusable cup in a Costa store.

Cotta continued: “We are committed to taking a lead and, like many others, we are working hard to find a cup that can be recycled anywhere. Whilst there is more work to do in partnership with the wider industry, we are excited to see the impact our new in-store recycling offer will have and hope it is embraced by everyone – by our customers and by those who buy their coffee elsewhere.”

Claims: 
The copyrights of articles in the website belong to authors. Please inform us if there is any violation of intellectual property and we will delete the articles immediately.