The increasing interest in recycling coffee cups took another step forward yesterday (26 March), when the Prince of Wales visited Cumbrian papermaker James Cropper to see its new paper machine.
Prince Charles visited the company’s Kendal mill and saw its ColourForm machine. From paper fibre, the machine produces a type of moulded fibre packaging which is plastic free. This can be used for the packaging of items such as fragrances, watches and bath products, the company said.
Prince Charles with Phil Wild of James Cropper visiting the Cropper paper mill in Cumbria this week
As well as visiting the new production unit, Prince Charles also joined a ‘Seeing is Believing’ Business in the Community roundtable to discuss what more businesses can do to create value from waste.
Phil Wild, chief executive of James Cropper, said that he was pleased that the Prince of Wales visited after the “hard work” James Cropper has put into sustainable packaging.
“We’re delighted that the Prince of Wales visited the ColourForm production unit, just five years after the Queen’s visit to our CupCycling facility,” Mr Wild said.
He added: “We believe in helping brands use packaging creatively, and we continually innovate to make sure they can do that, sustainably. We’re proud that our plastic-free packaging and coffee cup recycling processes are being used as inspiration for today’s discussions. We’ve developed these processes over a number of years because we recognise the need for brands to consider their packaging design and explore plastic-free alternatives.”
Recyclable
Made using renewable paper fibre from “well managed” forests and recycled coffee cups, James Cropper say that ColourForm can be manufactured in any colour or shape, is fully recyclable with household paper and is naturally biodegradable.
The process involves removing the polyethylene coating that makes take-away cups waterproof, while preserving the precious paper fibres. The paper mill pays for the used coffee cups.
James Cropper says that by working with coffee shops, waste management partners and brands who care about the environment, more than 20 million coffee cups have been recycled through the process to date.
DS Smith
The visit came a week after UK paper mill DS Smith also claimed it had “found a solution” to coffee cup recycling, by amending its pulping process at its 900,000 tonne capacity paper mill in Kent (see letsrecycle.com story).
Veolia
Veolia also recently launched a scheme to work with Westminster Council which will see Westminster street-sweepers become ‘mobile coffee cup recycling points’. This will see them have a separate bin as part of their equipment exclusively for people to dispose of coffee cups.
Veolia has previously worked with both Starbucks and Costa Coffee to help to increase the percentage of cups collected, as have charities Hubbub and ACE UK. Each of these have had limited success in upping the rate of recycling. It is thought that Veolia sends some of its collected coffee cups to the James Cropper mill.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Packaging
