Selecta and Veolia join forces for new coffee cup recycling scheme

Vending machine supplier Selecta UK has launched a new coffee cup recycling scheme in the UK in collaboration with resource management specialist Veolia.

Called SelectaGreen Cup Recycling Service, the initiative aims to provide an easy way for Selecta vending customers – such as train stations, schools and hospitals – to recycle their paper coffee cups through a service that guarantees cups are collected from premises and responsibly recycled. 

The scheme, which will be available to more than 10,000 customers, will see the paper cups transformed into fibre goods, such as packaging for perfumes and colognes, shopping bags and luxury notepads. 

Statistics show that 2.5 billion cups are thrown away in the UK every year.

Emily Stoten, marketing director of Selecta UK, said: “The recycling of a paper coffee cup is a complex process. Whilst our cups can already be recycled, we recognise that it isn’t always easy for our customers to do this due to supply chain challenges, particularly when they are not based in city centres.” 

She added: “This is a significant step forward in removing a barrier for businesses and locations such as colleges and hospitals to contribute to recycling in the UK as it will ensure millions of cups a week can be collected for processing to be used in the paper pulp manufacturing industry.”

Selecta vending customers that sign up for the scheme will receive a SelectaGreen Cup Recycling box which, when full, will be collected by Veolia within 48 hours of a request being received. The box is replaced at the customer site and the cups taken to Veolia’s facility in Essex.

Veolia then undertakes a further separation process to guarantee all rogue items have been removed before arriving at a specialist UK pulping plant. None of the materials used for SelectaGreen go to landfill. 

Keith McGurk, regional director for Veolia, said: “We are delighted to partner with Selecta to deliver Veolia’s innovative solution for their customers and help improve their environmental performance.

“With distribution points being far and wide and limited access to recycling points, our challenge has been to capture their customers’ cups. We have solved this by offering our national collection to more than 10,000 Selecta’s customers, using our infrastructure and expertise.

“Since we launched this scheme in 2017, Veolia has already diverted more than 60 million cups from energy recovery and landfill. We look forward to improving these green credentials further with our new partner.”