Finally, coffee chains trial a recyclable cup

A FULLY recyclable coffee cup is to be trialled by high street chains.

Made with bioplastic – a type of plastic derived from renewable sources – the cup can be recycled with paper and will break down in three months on a compost heap.

Coffee chains came under intense criticism after it was revealed that around 5,000 cups are discarded every minute in the UK, with less than 1 per cent of them recycled.

The Daily Mail’s Curb The Cups campaign has highlighted how most disposable cups cannot be recycled because they have a plastic coating inside. This is despite the fact some cups were found to carry logos suggesting they were recyclable.

Biome Bioplastics, the creator of the new cup, described it as a ‘world first’.

It is made from paper on the outside and bioplastic inside. It can withstand heat better than other types of bioplastic, because it uses eucalyptus.

The cup is comprised of plant starches and cellulose, and the company claims it can decompose into water and carbon dioxide within three months. Because it is wood-based, the whole cup can also be recycled with paper, its inventors say.

The UK’s coffee shops saw a 10 per cent increase in sales last year, taking their revenues to £3.4billion annually.

Paul Mines, chief executive of Biome Bioplastics, said: ‘For such a simple product, disposing of a single coffee cup is a very complex problem. Coffee drinkers are acting in good faith when they see recycling logos on their takeaway coffees but most cups are lined with oil-based plastic and the lids made of polystyrene, making recycling impossible, even when placed in the right bin.’ The company said it could not go into details about the consumer trials due to confidentiality agreements.

Research by the firm found that half of customers surveyed thought disposable coffee cups came at too high a cost to the environment.

A third said they would avoid buying takeaway drinks because of this.

Earlier this month, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said she would consider a scheme to mark cups with a ‘decomposition date’ after research found doing so could lead to a 5 per cent cut in waste.