UK coffee brand develops recyclable coffee cup
Manchester-based commercial coffee machine retailer, rijo42, has developed a disposable coffee cup which can be recycled in conventional mixed-paper recycling bins, as well as composted alongside food waste.
The company aims to lead the way in making the £10.1 billion UK coffee shop sector more sustainable.
Traditional coffee cups contain a plastic liner to stop them disintegrating when hot liquid is added. These cups can only be processed by a few specialist plants and suitable recycling points are limited, so most plastic-lined cartons and cups are thrown away in regular bins and make their way to landfill sites.
A growing number of retailers and offices in the UK have switched to compostable cups in an attempt to tackle the problem, but this isn’t an ideal solution as these cups still have to be disposed of in dedicated food waste bins which aren’t always readily available.
Compostable cups that end up in non-food waste recycling bins can break down, contaminating the rest of the recyclable waste and causing the whole batch to be rejected and sent to landfill.
rijo42’s new eco-cups look and perform exactly like traditional plastic-lined cups but use a water-based barrier coating solution instead. They can be recycled in conventional and widely-available mixed-paper recycling bins instead of requiring specialist recycling facilities. They’re also compostable as per EU Standard EN13432.
They will be available to all rijo42 customers, making it easier than ever for thousands of offices, cafes, restaurants, and bars across the UK to minimise the waste that’s caused by hard-to-recycle single-use coffee cups containing plastic.
The cups are manufactured in the UK, and the material used in their construction is sourced from sustainably managed forestry with FSC or PEFC accreditations.
Sean Griffin, director at rijo42, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to launch our eco-friendly, 100% plastic-free coffee cups to our customers and take another step on our no plastic journey. This is exactly what’s needed to push back on the unsustainability of other single-use cup designs, and we’re proud to be leading the way in the UK in this area.”
rijo42 is working towards being as environmentally friendly as possible, pursuing a plastic-free manufacturing process, energy-efficient coffee machine designs, and triple-certified ethical coffee.
