Dorset Residents Are Encouraged to Recycle Their Coffee Cups

Dorset Residents Are Encouraged to Recycle Their Coffee Cups

The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) has joined forces with the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE UK) to launch a new recycling service for disposable coffee cups.

Dorset residents can now recycle their empty cups as well as food and drink cartons at 20 designated recycling banks which are spread across the county.

Coffee cups cannot currently be included in kerbside recycling as they are made from the same materials as food and drinks cartons, mostly paper with a plastic lining, and this combination of materials must be dealt with at a recycling facility.

The waste partnership is encouraging residents to use a reusable cup when they buy a hot drink, as most coffee shops are happy to allow them to do this.

What happens to disposable cups?

Disposable cups that are put in household or public litter bins are often sent to landfill, but the new recycling banks now accept paper cups.

People who don’t use reusable cups are being encouraged to collect their paper cups and take them to their local recycling bank.

Wider access to recycling

The new service came about because of an agreement between ACE UK, Dorset’s dedicated food and drinks recycling service provider, retailers, and cup manufacturers. The aim of the service is to widen access to paper cup recycling facilities through providing recycling banks.

A local councillor acknowledged that the service was needed, given that coffee cups can’t be recycled through the council waste collections, and added that the people of Dorset usually engage well with changes that are made to recycling services.

Following on from a successful campaign

The introduction of the new service follows on from a successful scheme that was run last year that encouraged people to take their food and drink cartons to recycling banks.