Although they are made largely of paper, disposable coffee cups are also lined with plastic polyethylene, which makes recycling them difficult, as fused materials cannot be processed at standard recycling facilities.
Bywaters has sourced a recycling solution for these difficult coffee cups, in addition to offering a separate solution for recycling your leftover coffee grounds. We collect sorted disposable coffee cups from your premises, baling them at our sustainable materials recovery facility, before sending them to an approved mill to be processed into high-grade paper products.
The mills we partner with have the technology to separate the plastic from the paper cup, and then recycle both materials, ensuring nothing goes to waste.
Yes, in order for us to recycle the cups they have to be separated from other waste. This is because the plastic lining of the cups means they can’t be recycled with other paper products.
We partner with specialist facilities across the UK to offer the most sustainable services possible. These facilities are able to recycle coffee cups in to a variety of high quality items and prevent anything going to waste.
Plastic lids should be disposed of separately, ideally in your dry mixed recycling or flexible plastic bin, or a dedicated section of your coffee cup bin. The facilities we use are specialised to process coffee cups only and aren’t equipped to recycle lids, but we can recycle the lids if they are placed in the correct bin.
The paper from recycled coffee cups can be transformed into new paper products like tissue, cardboard, and even fresh paper cups. Similarly, the separated plastic lining can be repurposed into new plastic goods.
While recycling disposable cups is important, using a reusable coffee cup is generally the most environmentally friendly option as it significantly reduces the demand for new disposable cups and minimises waste generation in the first place.
