PKG0050

Written evidence submitted by Frugalpac

We are a British company creating packaging which can be easily recycled through current standard recycling systems. Our goal is to improve the recyclability of packaging.

Executive Summary

Our submission to the committee covers three distinct areas:

1. Assessing the impact and scale of the problem in the UK
2. Making the case for product over system reform for economic reasons and effective action now
3. Overcoming barriers to change and offering quick win, easy to implement policy and industry led solutions, backed up by April 2017 unique wide ranging consumer and industry research.

1. The impact and scale of the problem

The UK is facing a challenge of unprecedented scale: people are drinking more cups of coffee than ever before and places serving coffees are opening at breakneck speed. According to Local Data Company figures, between 2011 and 2016 there was a 31% increase in the number of coffee shops across the UK. It is estimated that at least 2.5 billion “paper” coffee cups are being thrown away in the UK every year. That’s almost 5,000 a minute, or 7 million per day. Only 1 in 400 of these is actually recycled. The rest go to general waste (landfill or incineration).

Current paper cups are not recycled in existing paper mills because:

a)      The virgin paper contains waterproofing chemicals

b)      The paper is laminated with a layer of plastic

The above mean that the paper will not break down in the current cycle times required by standard paper mills.

The challenge in recycling these products is that there are only two specialist recycling mills in the UK that can handle current paper cups and there is no economic, nor environmentally friendly, way of collecting and transporting these cups to the mills.

2. The case for focusing on product over system

This low recycling rate is a result of the approach the UK has historically taken to recycling, what is for many people, an everyday product. Thus far, the industry has focused its efforts almost exclusively on the recycling system – putting in place separate paper cup recycling bins and investing in specialist paper mills.  However, we strongly feel that the industry should put more focus on the products itself – making products that fit the established recycling system, rather than try to retro fit the system onto the many various products.

Currently, specialist mills are needed to break down existing coffee cups and because of the time and cost (financial and carbon) involved in the collection and the reprocessing of paper cups, this is not a scalable option.

The products that consumers are currently putting into the general recycling bins are not suitable for the system. There is a clear economic case for reform and by focusing on changing the products we can make this change relatively quickly and cheaply. There should be no reason why by 2020 that the vast majority of coffee cups are recycled.

3. Overcoming barriers to change & potential solutions

Cups compatible with the existing recycling and reprocessing system should be the rule rather than the exception. To achieve this we believe that we should focus on two key steps:

1. Educate consumers around the issues involved with recycling current coffee cups and encourage them to seek products that will be accepted in the current system. To do this, we should create a standard logo / kite mark for paper cups showing it can be recycled in the current system.
2. Legislating for retailers to use packaging that can be recycled within current systems and to incentivise to invest in innovation in this area. Make clear they have two options: either paying higher charges to use specialist mills or invest in a product that is suitable and acceptable in the existing system.

The above two steps are both things that consumers back overwhelmingly (April 2017 research):

- 90% of consumers think coffee shops should provide easy to understand information on how to dispose of takeaway paper cups. Similarly 87% of people thought that a kite mark on every paper cup identifying it as recyclable in ‘any bin’ was important. Overwhelmingly, 92% of respondents said it was important to be able to dispose of takeaway paper cups within the current recycling system (i.e. current paper and cardboard recycling bins).

- 89% of people thought that it was the coffee shops’ responsibility to stock recyclable paper cups. Similarly, 89% of people think that coffee shops should communicate more clearly what share of the takeaway paper cups they serve can be recycled.

Questions & responses

What is the environmental impact of waste from coffee cups and plastic bottles? Are the rates of use, collection levels and recycling levels of these products increasing or decreasing over time?

A growing problem

There is an enormous and growing problem with coffee cup waste in the UK. Last year, it was estimated that around 2.5 billion “paper” coffee cups are being thrown away in the UK every year.

• These 2.5 billion cups are discarded at a rate of almost 5,000 a minute, or 7 million per day.
• The industry view is that only 1 in 400 is currently being recycled, and that one cup is being recycled in a specialist mill, not a standard one.
• This means that the vast majority of coffee cups are not being recycled. Nearly all end up in landfill or incineration– that’s at least 30,000 tonnes of waste a year – enough to fill London’s Royal Albert Hall.
• The cost of separate collection, transporting and reprocessing far outweighs the economic value of the cups and is not scalable.
• Conventional cups are a huge burden on local authorities and landfill sites, a burden which could be easily lifted by making small changes to the design of the product.

What are the challenges of recycling these products? What obstacles have prevented greater progress in increasing recycling rates?

Manufacturing methods are at the heart of the problem

The reason why only 1 in 400 coffee cups is recycled comes down to the way in which current coffee cups are manufactured. The product does not fit the current recycling system.

• At first sight disposable coffee cups appear to be pretty straightforward: being made, principally, of paper. Whilst the simplicity and straightforwardness of that first impression are undoubtedly true, not all disposable cups are manufactured in the same way.
• Understanding how disposable cups are currently made is key to understanding why they are difficult to recycle.
• The basic method of construction of current cups is: -

1. Paper is treated with waterproofing chemicals and laminated with plastic in order to make it resistant to any liquid and prevent the cup becoming ‘soggy’ when in use.
2. This water resistant paper, known as ‘Cup Stock’, is then formed into a cup shape with an exposed paper seam running vertically up the side of the cup.
3. Because this seam is exposed to any liquid in the cup, recycled paper cannot be used

Irrespective of the nature of the plastic laminate inside the cup, the Cup Stock paper used in existing cups makes them unacceptable to existing paper mills.

Are consumers aware of the complexities of recycling these products? How could we increase awareness amongst the public and what impact would this have?

A lack of transparency is hampering efforts

In our view consumers are not currently aware of the difficulties and challenges of recycling cups.

• The situation is very confusing for the consumer - a number of coffee brands claim that their cups are recycled or recyclable plus there are in store bins claiming that the cups can be recycled if disposed of there. We worry that the in-store bins are complicated for consumers and don’t address the fundamental problem of how you dispose of existing cups once you leave the store. In 2011 a Which? survey reported that 8 out of 10 people believed you could just throw standard disposable paper cups into the recycling bin.
• We conducted some research in April 2017 which revealed that 50% of consumers incorrectly believe that their coffee cups are being recycled. Whereas someone who drinks takeaway coffee three times a week over the course of a year would not see one of their 156 paper cups recycled.
• We believe that on disposal the consumer wants an easy and universal solution. Essentially this means being able to dispose of their cups in any paper bin.
• The main issue is the paper cup that is taken out of the café/store and drunk on-the-go (as the vast majority of coffees sold in the UK are).
• These take away paper cups will largely be disposed of in the municipal street bins or, in some cases, become litter.
• Most consumers want to recycle effectively and responsibly but with 300 different collection systems in the UK, on-street rubbish collection varies vastly. Some local authorities have recycling bins, many others don’t.
• This makes recycling for the consumer confusing and difficult.
• We would like to see the large retailers and suppliers make more effort to source cups that can be recycled within current systems, rather than focusing on expensively changing the system. Indeed 92% of respondents to our April 2017 survey said that they thought it was important to be able to dispose of takeaway paper cups within the current recycling system (i.e. current paper and cardboard recycling bins).
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What actions are being untaken by industry to reduce waste generated by coffee cups and plastic bottles? How effective have these initiatives been? How could the Government better support these initiatives?

Increasing the number of bins does not impact recycling rates

In terms of the current initiatives, there are two main trials currently taking place:

1. Retailers placing cup recycling bins inside their premises and encouraging customers to return their empty cups to the store. Most of these paper cups are used on-the-go i.e. away from the place of purchase. We understand that very few customers are returning their cups and when they do they have to be cleaned out by the staff prior to transporting to the recycling plant. Regrettably, this is unlikely to have a material impact on recycling rates. In our April 2017 research we found that just 10% of people use specialist in-store recycling bins to discard their used paper coffee cups, raising serious question marks over the efforts of the coffee industry to combat waste.
2. Area specific on-street and in-office bespoke separate collection bins. The key issues that make this test unscalable is that it necessitates a unique collection and recycling infrastructure. The volumes in this trial that are anticipated to be collected are minimal (less than a day consumption figure in the UK) i.e. less than 7m compared to the 2.5bn annually disposed of annually. It is also important to note that recent schemes such as The City of London Corporation’s Square Mile Challenge while to be admired in their ambition run the risk of misleading consumers further that current paper cups can be recycled. Sadly, the sheer scale of the nationwide problem means that these isolated schemes merely cloud the issue further.

What initiatives could be utilised to reduce coffee cup and plastic bottle waste or to lessen the impact of this waste? In particular what are the opportunities and risks associated with:

— Incentives to encourage the use of re-usable alternatives for these products.

— Charge, taxes, deposits or levies on the use of these products.

Change the product, not the system

The UK has two options to improve recyclability. Either we revamp the system (i.e. significantly more investment in the collection and the building of greater numbers of specialist paper mills) or we can easily change the products that we are putting into the system.

We believe that we need to change the focus of the issue – we do not need to change the current recycling system – it is fit for purpose.

We need to change the products that we are putting into the system. It is far cheaper, quicker and easier to implement.

• There is a different way to manufacture cups that makes them acceptable to existing paper mills.
• Existing cups are made from Cup Stock which is treated with chemicals to prevent the cup from leaking and going soft.  A thin layer of plastic film is then strongly bonded to the Cup Stock to make it waterproof. The laminated paper is then formed into the cup.
• Taking Frugal Cups as an example: these are made by forming the cup first and then applying a waterproof liner to the inside afterwards.
• Frugal Cups are made from plain recycled paper untreated by chemicals. The paper is folded into a cup shape and glued together – using the same machines as conventional cups. After this a thin plastic liner is welded into a cup shape and is lightly glued into the formed cup. The top of the liner is rolled over the lip of the cup to protect it when you drink your coffee. To create the double wall cup, as per standard cups the sleeve is then attached to the inner cup.
• Because the liner is so lightly glued in place in a Frugal Cup, it easily separates in one piece when the cup is repulped. As there are no chemicals in the paper it will easily break down in the pulping machine - in the standard time required at any paper mill.
• The Frugal Cup is therefore designed to go in any paper or cardboard bin.
• We firmly believe that placing a consumer levy or tax on the existing design of papercups will not have a material impact on recycling rates: people will still purchase their morning coffee, albeit at a slightly higher price. Any costs imposed upon retailers will be borne by the consumer. We need to incentivise and encourage retailers to seek out and use cups that are accepted into existing systems.

How can we encourage households, businesses, food and drink outlets, and offices to change behaviours or introduce policies to reduce their coffee cup and plastic bottle waste?

Have a standard which is easily recognisable

The simplest way of encouraging people and businesses to reduce their contribution to waste is to give them products which are compatible with the cu

rrent waste streams. Within the current modus operandi, it is far too easy for consumers to (rightly) assume that if they put their coffee cups in a recycling bin then that product will be recycled.

Equally, although retailers have made great progress in placing increased numbers of recycling bins inside and outside their stores, without materially changing the product that is going into the bin, this will have little effect in the long term.

We should look to have a single standard that is across industry and which is easily recognised by consumers as approved to go in any recycling bin. In our April 2017 research 87% of people thought that a kite mark on every paper cup identifying it as recyclable in ‘any bin’ was important.

90% of consumers think coffee shops should provide easy to understand information on how to dispose of takeaway paper cups.

Lastly 89% of people thought that it was the coffee shops’ responsibility to stock recyclable paper cups.

We ask for your support in making this a reality.

About our April 2017 research

ICM Unlimited interviewed 2,005 adults aged 18+ online between 31st March and 2nd April 2017.  Using Litmus, ICM’s Omnibus service – the data was weighted to be a nationally representative sample.

A full breakdown of the data is available for the committee.

April 2017