Costa aims to recycle up to 500 million coffee cups per year by 2020, which would be one cup recycled for every cup sold. This would account for a fifth of all coffee cups used in the UK. Costa will pay waste collectors £70 per tonne of recycled cups. While most UK paper mills cannot currently recycle coffee cups due to their plastic lining, Costa is working to develop a more easily recyclable cup. A trial recycling scheme in a Manchester store found potential as 40 used cups were left daily. Costa's managing director commented on finding an immediate solution to increasing disposable cup volumes.

1. Costa’s Green Promise to Recycle Record Number of Coffee Cups
Costa is making green steps to become the UK’s first coffee provider to recycle up to 500 million
cups a year by the year 2020.
This is one recycled cup for every cup it sells nationwide. Altogether, it’s a fifth of all coffee cups
used in the UK.
The leading coffee chain brand will pay £70 to waste collectors for every tonne of cups that are
recycled - this is equivalent to a total of 83,000 cups. Recycled cups will be transported by
Costa’s partner, Veolia, to the recycling plant, helping cut down on the vast number of cups
ending up in landfill sites.
At the moment, there are only 3 paper mills, out of the 72 in the UK, that can recycle coffee
cups embedded with the plastic coating. This is because there is certain machinery needed to
separate the plastic from the paper and it is a challenging task for most mills to achieve.
Costa states it is working hard to come up with a cup solution that means it will be more easily
recyclable. While most of the cup is made of card, cups have an added layer of polyethylene, a
type of plastic, which helps to strengthen the cup. However, this has meant that many cups go
to landfill, adding to ever-growing piles of waste.
The coffee chain’s recycling scheme was first trialled at a store in Manchester, where it was
found that 40 cups per day were being left in store once customers had finished with them. This
gave plenty of potential for the old cups to be recycled.
Managing director, Dominic Paul, said: “Costa is putting its money where its mouth is to find an
immediate solution to the increasing volume take-away cups.”
The scheme is an add-on to Costs’s customer incentive offering a 25p discount for anyone who
reuses their coffee cup - of any brand. This scheme has become very popular with customers -
but there is still room to grow.
Costa’s green ambition to reduce cups going to landfill is pushing other coffee brands to follow
suit.