The recent attention brought to the recycling of coffee cups by the media is something close to ours and our customer’s hearts. As a manufacturer of disposable products we are glad these issues have been brought to light and wish to make the issues surrounding this eco-subject clearer for our customers.
We understand that while most coffee cups are not 100% biodegradable there are recycling facilities available and even cups that are 100% return to soil, will only be environmentally friendly if they are disposed of correctly.
The Food Packaging Association, of which we are a member, released a statement about this issue highlighting some of the problems with the medias view on paper cups:
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s ‘War on Paper Cups’ campaign swiftly followed by Defra Minister Rory Stewart’s announcement that coffee cups ‘seem to be a very good thing to look at next’ has brought paper cup recyclability sharply into focus. The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) welcomes the raising of this issue by Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall as while great strides have been made to make paper cups recyclable, a lack of consistent infrastructure means the volume being recycled falls a long way short of what should be possible and UK businesses could be missing out on 60,000 tonnes of very quality recycled paper and board annually. It is the sincere hope of the FPA that current debate will act as a catalyst to achieve swift progress and new recycling schemes that are easy to implement across the supply chain.
However the FPA challenges a number of assertions made this week:
- That disposable paper cups are not recycled
- That retailers are misleading their publics
- That retailers are acting arrogantly
- That a tax on paper cups, ‘like the bag tax’ is the answer
To read the full article please follow this link: http://ow.ly/ZNde0
PLA:
We do offer a 100% biodegradable cup which is lined with PLA plant based coating, but unless this is disposed of in the compost bin it is not being recycled properly.
To reap the full benefits of the PLA compostable cups customers must be educated as to why they are environmentally friendly and how they should be disposed of. A simple way to do this is to incorporate a green message into your cups design explaining these points to your customers. If you are unsure on how these issues might affect you or are looking for ways to be more environmentally responsible, speak to a member of our team today on 01200 449911.
