What next for the UK’s 3.2 billion cup challenge?

Defra has abandoned plans for a mandatory cup takeback scheme, and this could this pave the way for more Pigouvian policies. David Burrows reports. 

A scheme to force foodservice businesses to take back single-use coffee cups and recycle them has been dropped by the government. The mandatory takeback policy, originally planned for introduction through new extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) regulations, would have helped lift recycling rates of fibre-based cups to almost 40%, according to the previous Conservative government’s impact assessment.

But the new Labour government last week said it has an updated assessment (which it has yet to publish) that found the policy would only increase recycling rates by seven percentage points over the next 10 years. This would not be cost-effective, nor worth civil servants’ time, it said. In-depth engagement sessions with those affected by the obligations also fed into the decision, made across all four home nations, to drop the scheme.

So, with 3.2 billion cups – or perhaps double that according to some NGOs – used every year for a few minutes and at least 94% of them then buried or burned, what is the government’s new plan to improve the circularity of this constant stream of cups?

Currently, all we know is that Defra wants to support voluntary schemes to increase the recycling of single-use cups. These have hardly set the world alight. Save a Cup, the Cup Group, the Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group (founded following that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall campaign which ran almost 10 years ago now) and the Paper Cup Alliance have all highlighted the value of the material the cups are made from – the virgin fibre that makes up 95% of a standard cup is what processors are after; the PE liner, currently essential to the cup, less so – but have not really cut through beyond dedicated recyclers in the general population.

Indeed, Footprint research published in 2023 showed Costa Coffee had managed to recycle over 165 million cups since its scheme began in 2018, against a target of 500 million. Industry insiders suggested their efforts, which have resulted in over 6,300 collection points being introduced across the UK, may suffer from a “visibility challenge”. Any glimmers of hope were gutted by the pandemic, so all the energy was focused on making a mandatory scheme a success. Mandatory takeback would provide a “solid footing” for collection of cups and “give confidence to collectors that there is a market for their service”, Huhtamaki Fiber Foodservice EAO head of sustainability Neil Whittall told Footprint recently. “This can only support recycling rates,” he added. 

The proposed mandatory cup takeback scheme would have obligated businesses that supply drinks in fibre-based composite cups filled at the point of supply, and who employ at least 10 full-time staff members to supply a bin on their premises to collect used cups; ‘make arrangements for recycling; and report the weight of cups sold and collected to the regulator. That was a step too far for the new government however: recycling rates would climb but not enough; litter would hardly be reduced; and the costs just didn’t stack up.

In a statement sent to Footprint, a spokesperson for Defra said: “Analysis has shown the mandatory takeback scheme for cups proposed by the previous government would not have the intended impact on boosting recycling rates and reducing litter. It would cost £52m to the government and industry, placing unnecessary burdens on business.”

They added: “This decision will allow businesses to focus on implementing our other collection and packaging reforms, which will support 21,000 jobs and stimulate more than £10bn of investment in recycling capability during the next decade.”

So, the mandatory scheme is in the bin (ironically in no small part because of the costs involved in putting recycling bins for the cups everywhere). From the foodservice sector there came a collective sigh. It is a “huge disappointment”, said the Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) in its weekly newsletter on Friday. “A lot of people have put tremendous effort into developing it and the scheme is a very good example of what can be achieved with collaboration,” the Association added, as it vowed to “prove government wrong”.

Making a success of a cup recycling scheme is, as the likes of the FPA know only too well, not simple.

Currently, only 1% of 1,200 individuals use cup recycling bins, according to the National Paper Cup Recycling Scheme, which is the latest in the long line of voluntary initiatives. “We are trying to change people’s view of these cups. People will react differently when they understand why we are collecting them separately and the benefits of doing so,” explained Sam Kinnear, commercial manager at Valpak, which oversees the scheme. 

That scheme was set up in 2018 by Costa Coffee and Valpak and is currently co-funded by seven other major brands including McDonald’s, Caffè Nero, Pret A Manger, Greggs, Burger King, Pure and Lavazza Professional. They were all in full support of a mandatory scheme, which they believed was essential in driving up recycling rates significantly. There were, of course, caveats.

“To significantly increase cup recycling rates across the UK, any mandatory takeback scheme should apply to businesses of all sizes,” was the collective response sent to Footprint for its recent report on paper-based cups. “A collective effort is crucial for creating a more sustainable and effective recycling system nationwide and help drive a change in consumer behaviour towards recycling,” they added. “Any such scheme should coincide with investment in improved on-the-go and household recycling facilities and infrastructure, to ensure that more cups are returned, collected and recycled.”

Bettersweet

Good luck with that now. Whether this is the ‘right’ decision is currently not important (nor possible to answer without seeing the government’s workings). How the industry reacts will be though. There is a bit of a sweetener coming for coffee cup users, with Defra having confirmed that large producers obligated under pEPR and who invest in the collection and recycling of cups will be eligible to off-set this packaging against their household disposal cost fee obligations. 

The FPA called this a “vital lifeline” for the voluntary scheme. As to the scale of this sweetener we know not yet (EPR fees are still subject to intense debate, with push-back in some quarters regarding the illustrative fees published so far and the methods used to calculate them).

Nothing is dead in the water in these chaotic, U-turn-laden times for (packaging) policymaking. But perhaps the government together with its officials at Defra and their boss Mary Creagh, the waste minister, have their eyes on a bolder plan with potentially bigger benefits?

“A reusable cup is one of the easiest ways to reduce cup waste but he discounts offered by coffee companies are ineffective,” said Creagh in 2018, when chair of the environmental audit committee of MPs. “The plastic bag charge is proof that charges are highly effective at reducing packaging waste. We urge the Government to introduce a 25p charge on disposable cups.”

This is what Scotland has proposed. A consultation on its 25p charge on single-use cups closed in mid-November. The Scottish Retail Consortium has called on the Scottish Government to abandon its plans. Campaigners, meanwhile, point to charges (on single-use) being more effective than discounts (for bringing a reusable cup), the so-called ‘loss aversion theory’.

The charge is designed to hit higher up the waste hierarchy, increasing reuse and reducing the number of single-use cups. Another policy that would do this – and something France has already deployed – is to ban single-use packaging when people are eating or drinking on the premises. “I’m not saying anything new here but the focus for cups should be squarely on prevention,” said Chris Sherrington from Eunomia, a consultancy that has produced a number of reports on packaging in recent years. “A ban on single-use for consumption on the premises and a consistent consumer facing charge would be a good start. We should be aiming for very high levels of reuse,” he added.

Indeed, a lot of blood, sweat and tears has gone into voluntary paper cup recycling schemes since 2016. The result (at best), is that 192 million are recycled each year, which leaves about a billion being landfilled, incinerated or worse, littered. Maybe it is time to abandon this and embrace a truly circular option?