Costa promises to recycle as many coffee cups as it sells by 2020
The coffee giant will encourage waste collection firms to collect the cups by offering them more cash
THE UK's largest coffee shop chain has pledged to recycle as many disposable cups as it sells by 2020 in an effort to slash the number sent to landfill.
Costa Coffee said it will recycle up to 500million disposable coffee cups a year, including those from other retailers to match the number it hands out - and has urged other chains to do the same.
There is growing pressure to tackle the 2.5billion disposable coffee cups which Brits chuck away every year, with almost all of them incinerated, exported or sent to landfill.
But Costa said it was a "misconception" that the problem with recycling cups was because their plastic lining was difficult to separate from the cardboard.
It has claimed it is instead to do with their collection once customers had thrown them into recycling bins.
The move comes after its own voluntary recycling scheme flopped, with less than 3 per cent of its 500million sold cups - 14 million - brought back and recycled between February 2017 and 2018.
The coffee giant will pay waste collectors a supplement of £70 per tonne of cups they send to recycling plants, increasing the value of a tonne of waste by 150 per cent to £125.
There are currently three UK paper mills that can recycle the cups - James Cropper, ACE UK and DS Smith - and Costa said they had a combined capacity to process more than 4.5 billion every year.
Costa will pay another £5 per tonne to independent third party Valpak, which will audit the system and report on recycling rates.
The chain, which has 2,380 shops in the UK, has developed the plan in partnership with five national waste collectors - Veolia, Biffa, Suez, Grundon and First Mile.
It said the recycling move would work alongside its efforts to encourage customers to use reusable cups, including a 25p discount for those who bring their own mugs.
Costa managing director Dominic Paul said: "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 today's 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.
"At Costa we want to guarantee our customers that if they throw their cup into a recycling bin it will get recycled, and today's announcement is a major step towards that happening."
Mr Paul told that the chain's own recycling scheme was "dependent on customer behaviour" as Brits have to take their cups back to a shop.
He said: "We can’t force customers to bring them back.
"We have realised that we have to do something much more significant.";
Grundon's sales and marketing director, Bradley Smith, added: "Costa are helping to create the right conditions where paper cups can become a valuable recycled material.
More on money
"This provides increased stability and confidence in the market, which will help waste management companies like Grundon to extend paper cup recycling services to more customers."
Last month ministers were accused of inaction over litter after the Government failed to give its backing to calls for a 25p "latte levy" on disposable coffee cups.
The 25p charge was the standout recommendation from a cross-party committee of MPs, who said cash raised could pay for improved recycling facilities.
Many chains are already selling reusable cups to help cut down on waste - and you can find out which the best ones are here.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Money team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 78 24516. Don't forget to join the for the latest bargains and money-saving advice.