Finally, we’ll be able to recycle coffee cups

MILLIONS of takeaway cups will be recycled rather than sent to landfill sites or incinerators under a new service.

Employers will be encouraged to install dedicated bins in workplaces so that the cups can be sent to specialist centres.

The Daily Mail’s Curb The Cups campaign highlighted last year how most disposable cups from high street cafes cannot be recycled because they have a plastic coating inside.

About 7 million paper cups are used in Britain each day, or 2.5 billion a year, which means vast numbers are simply dumped in landfill or burned.

Veolia, a waste company working with Costa and Starbucks, will launch the recycling service today.

Veolia technical director Richard Kirkman said: ‘The common problem we have with recycling is how many people are willing to do it ... Recycling needs to be easier than doing anything else (with your waste).’

However, green campaigners say the real solution is to develop a cup that can be recycled along with normal paper waste, rather than setting up a new system that would see the refuse shipped to specialist plants.