Only 4% of 500 million coffee cups were recycled, where more than 90 million cups of the city ended up in landfill or burnt to produce energy-from-waste (EfW)
Cup Movement to recycle coffee cups in Glasgow. (Credit: DS Smith)
UK-based packaging company DS Smith has partnered with Keep Scotland Beautiful, a Scottish environmental charity, to recycle millions of coffee cups.
Both the companies have teamed up to support an initiative, known as Cup Movement, which was designed to recycle coffee cups in Glasgow, Scotland.
According to DS Smith, Scotland used nearly 500 million single-use coffee cups in 2019 with Glasgow contributing around 100 million cups last year.
DS Smith said that only 4% of 500 million coffee cups were recycled, where more than 90 million cups of the city ended up in landfill or burnt to produce energy-from-waste (EfW).
DS Smith’s Coffee Cup Drop Box to support recycling coffee cup in Glasgow
The initiative was undertaken to educate the public regarding the environmental impact of single-use items.
As part of the initiative, the Scottish environmental charity has partnered with DS Smith to roll out its Coffee Cup Drop Box recycling service in Glasgow.
Keep Scotland Beautiful operations director Catherine Gee said: “Cup Movement aims to work across all sectors to find solutions for reducing the amount of waste associated with single-use cups.
“We are delighted to have the support of DS Smith and to include the Coffee Cup Drop Box in our suite of interventions.
“Its unique design is well-suited for overcoming some of the barriers to cup recycling, particularly for SMEs, and we are excited to be rolling it out as part of our city-wide initiative in Glasgow.”
The box is made from 100% recycled materials and can be used to collect coffee cups from businesses in Glasgow.
Each box can hold about 700 used cups and once full it will be collected by Royal Mail Relay and returned to DS Smith’s recycled paper mill in Kemsley, to be recycling back into new paper products.