Coffee Cups - takeaway

Yes takeaway coffee cups can be recycled BUT cups are made from so many different materials that it has become incredibly complex. The three main categories are;

  1. Cardboard.
  2. Compostable.
  3. Biodegradable.

RECYCLED
Where?

  • Carboard: you can identify these cups quite easily as they will NOT be labelled as compostable or biodegradable and in the absence of these 2 labels we can assume they are made from cardboard. If so you have 3 choices;
     
    • Costa coffee - will accept any brand of coffee cups in any of their stores.
    • Brighton & Hove City Council Tetra Pak bins - see Tetra Paks for bin locations.
  • Compostable: compostable take away coffee cups are designed to be composted in a commercial composter and not a home composter unless they specifically state, "For home composting". Most don't. There is only one scheme in Brighton and Hove;

    • The Green Centre - will accept only Vegware cups for recycling. The cups are clearly labelled as Vegware. There is no facility for recycling other compostable cups. 
  •  Biodegradable: 

N.B. There is another scheme available in Brighton and Hove called the Cup Neutral scheme which is a local collaboration between Brighton Catering Supplies, Small Batch and other independent cafes and hospitality business in Brighton and Hove. There are bins throughout the city. See the map on their website.

How?

  • The most important thing is to identify which of the three categories your cup falls into and then see where you can recycle it.  

DID YOU KNOW?

  • The UK consumes 2.5 billion coffee cups per year.
  • 99.75% of coffee cups in the UK don’t get recycled.