22.07.16

Congratulations Frugal Pac

Starbucks is to trial a British-made coffee cup that can be recycled in a backlash against litter and waste.

The US company has responded to concerns that as many as 2.5billion disposable cups are dumped in landfill or incinerated every year in the UK.

Most people are under the impression that the takeaway cups handed out by the coffee shop chains can be recycled along with other paper waste.

However, the truth is that 399 out of every 400 are not because they are made with a plastic coating that means they cannot be processed.

Now, British entrepreneur, Martin Myerscough has developed the Frugalpac cup, which can be recycled.

The cups have a thin plastic membrane that floats away during the paper recycling process, which means the materials can be recovered and re-used.

The issue hit the headlines earlier this year when anti-waste campaigner and chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall launched a campaign against coffee cup waste.

As a result of his efforts, Starbucks agreed to offer customers a 50p discount on drinks if they brought in their own cups.

It is now going one step further by agreeing to run a trial on the new ‘green’ cups.

A spokesman said: ‘We are very interested in finding out more about the Frugalpac cup and we will be testing it to see if it meets our standards for safety and quality with a view to trialling its recyclability.’

More than 2.5 billion coffee cups – made from virgin paper which comes from more than 100,000 trees – are disposed of in the UK every year.

If they were put end-to-end they would go around the world five-and-a-half times and weigh as much as a battleship.