A new initiative aimed at recycling coffee cups at Edinburgh Airport aims to cut down on the number going to waste.
Working with Costa Coffee and SWRnewstar, the airport has installed new cup bins within the terminal to encourage passengers to recycle their coffee cups. Almost three million cups are sold at the airport each year, which if laid side by side would stretch all the way to Ireland. A new partnership will see steps taken to reduce that number.
Although many retailers within the airport offer incentives for customers using reusable coffee cups, the new bins provide a way to collect coffee cups that will then be taken to a specialist recycling facility where they can be recycled into products such as writing paper and packaging.
Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said, “The issue of single-use plastics and coffee cups and the problems they pose is something that has gathered momentum and it’s only right that we all play our part in reducing or controlling their use.
“Our retailers have already taken action to reduce the use of single-use plastics and encourage the use of reusable cups but where people can’t, we want to make it easy for them to dispose of them in the knowledge they’ll be recycled and used again in different formats.”
Oliver Rosevear, head of environment for Costa, added, “Earlier this year Costa became the first UK coffee brand to commit to recycling the same volume of coffee cups that we put onto the market each year by 2020.
“This announcement from Edinburgh Airport is a great example of how ‘closed environments’, such as airports, can help us achieve this ambitious goal by installing the right infrastructure and making it easier for passengers and customers to do the right thing and recycle their coffee cups. We’re delighted to be collaborating with the airport and SWRnewstar to help increase recycling rates and stop coffee cups ending up in landfill or the incinerator.”
