Whitbread PLC’s (LON:WTB) Costa Coffee said it will recycle 500 million disposable cups per year by 2020 to help reduce landfill waste.
The target represents the coffee chain’s entire annual use of takeaway cups and one-fifth of the total 2.5 billion cups used in the UK each year.
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Most takeaway coffee cups are not recycled and end up as landfill because they have a leakproof polyethylene plastic lining that is considered tricky to separate from the cardboard.
The difficulty involved in removing the tightly bonded plastic lining means disposable cups cannot be recycled by normal systems. There are three UK paper mills – James Cropper, ACE UK and DS Smith – that can recycle cups containing polyethylene plastic.
Costa dispels 'myth' about recycling disposable cups
But Costa said there were “misconceptions” about whether the cups could be recycled.
"The actual issue lies in collecting the cups once they have been disposed of correctly."
Costa, which is the UK’s largest coffee chain with more than 2,000 stores, will encourage waste collection companies to collect disposable cups by paying them a supplement of £70 a tonne.
The company’s scheme is in partnership with five national waste collectors including Suez, Grundon, First Mile, Biffa and Veolia.
“It dispels the myth that coffee cups can’t be recycled,” said Dominic Paul, managing director of Costa.
“By creating a market for cups as a valuable recyclable material, we are confident that we can transform the UK’s ineffective and inconsistent ‘binfrastructure’ to ensure hundreds of millions of cups get recycled every year."
“One hundred million cups will be recycled this year alone following our announcement, and if the nation’s other coffee chains sign up, there is no reason why all takeaway cups could not be recycled by as early as 2020.”
Other schemes to cut back landfill
The move comes after MPs on the environmental audit committee proposed a 25p levy on all hot drinks bought in takeaway containers.
Costa currently offers a 25p discount to customers who bring in a reusable cup and Pret gives 50p off the price of coffee for those who use their own cups.
Starbucks is currently trialling a 5p levy and Waitrose has also announced plans to remove all disposable cups from its shops.