A cup of steaming coffee always proves a welcome addition to my morning. And what strikes me as I’m sat sipping my coffee on my commute today is just how complex a journey my little paper cup is on. I appreciate I probably put much more thought into my morning coffee than the average coffee drinker, yet I know I’m not alone. And, just to pre-empt your cries of “where’s the reusable one?”, please do excuse me – like many eco-conscious commuters, my best intentions are often overruled by the busy morning routine…

Paper cups, particularly coffee cups, have been receiving a lot of media attention recently, due, in considerable part, to chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s call for high street coffee chains to ‘wake up and smell the waste[1]’ and increase recycling of paper cups.

A journey more complex than your morning commute?

Usually made from just two materials – paper and a lining (either plastic or a plant-based alternative), the paper cup is a relatively simple item on a long and arduous journey.

The paper cup recycling story would be easier to solve if it was as simple as asking coffee manufacturers and retailers to make sure that the cups are recyclable. You see, recyclability of paper cups, and of other packaging materials too, is only part of the jigsaw. The creation, use and recycling of the cup typically involves a supply chain with at least seven different elements:

… And, from raw material to paper fibre recovery, the stages are all linked by logistics activities, and with a surrounding layer of ‘other stakeholder’ requirements and support e.g. from government, industry bodies, NGOs, etc.

What’s collaboration got to do with it?

Which leads me on to my next point: for the cup to be recycled effectively, collaboration is essential. And, most importantly, there needs to be a viable end market for the recovered paper cup materials to make the process worthwhile in the first place. Without adequate demand for a recovered end product, few organisations will consider investing in recovery facilities. This is a real challenge for the secondary materials market where, in many instances, virgin materials still cost less than the recovered alternatives, and the resulting lack of demand for secondary materials has led to the closure of many reprocessing facilities around the world.

Collaboration is already happening between players in the paper cup industry, and there’s significant progress being made across the packaging supply chain more widely. Organisations like the Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) and the Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group (PCRRG) are bringing together like-minded organisations to focus specifically on improving packaging sustainability and resource efficiency. However, the pace of change varies considerably across the supply chain and there is now a mismatch between ever more sophisticated food and drink packaging, our increasing propensity to eat and drink on the go, and the recycling infrastructure we have to deal with the resulting waste.

What’s next?

Let’s face it, the paper cup isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. A more sustainable future will require a range of interventions across the paper cup supply chain, which will only happen if a considerable proportion of the organisations within those seven steps I mentioned above are to work together more closely. And this collaboration needs to be both with direct supply chain partners, and also through forging less direct partnerships, such as cup designers working with paper re-processors, first to better understand the myriad of complexities associated with paper cup recycling, and to then start to increase recycling rates.

Making the already-recyclable paper cup widely recycled will not be easy, but it’s not an insurmountable challenge, and recent activity in the world of paper cups suggests that the industry is stepping up a gear in terms of paper cup recycling. It will be interesting to see what impact the next few weeks and months of increased industry collaboration will have on the journey of my morning coffee cup and whether Hugh’s challenge to the industry will be enough to drive long term, sustainable change.

Now, where did I put my reusable mug…?

[1] https://www.rivercottage.net/news/wake-up-and-smell-the-waste