Costa Coffee promises to recycle half a billion takeaway cups per year
Costa Coffee has promised that it plans to recycle up to 500 million cups by 2020, the same amount that the chain puts on the market, and the equivalent of a fifth of the 2.5 billion takeaway coffee cups consumed by the nation per year.
The announcement came in partnership with five of the nation’s waste collectors – Veolia, Biffa, Suez, Grundon and First Mile. The waste collectors will be paid a supplement of £70 by Costa for every tonne of cups collected.
Daren King, sales director at Biffa said: “We are delighted to support Costa, and indeed the whole sector, with this important development to the way in which coffee cups are collected and recycled.”
The plan raises the value of the takeaway cups by 140%, making one tonne of cups worth between £50 and £120.
Darren Paul, MD of Costa Coffee, said: “At Costa we want to guarantee our customers that if they throw their cup into the right recycling bin it will get recycled, and today’s announcement is a major step towards that happening. We have set our own target to recycle the same volume of takeaway cups we use every year and call on other cup retailers to join and help to build a dynamic market for takeaway coffee cup recycling.”
The coffee chain is set to recycle 100 million cups this year alone and already offers a 25p discount to customers who bring in a reusable cup.
