How to recycle takeaway coffee cups. Single-use coffee cups can now be recycled in Australia!! Since launching in January 2019, we’ve been able to divert over 150,000 single use coffee cups from landfill!
This was about four months worth of takeaway coffee cups I’d collected from my family to take to our local coffee cup recycling station.
Did you know: 3 billion single-use coffee cups are sold in Australia each year.
That’s 60,000 kilograms of plastic waste from coffee cups alone ending up in landfill each year.
Fun fact: One coffee cup alone can contaminate a bag of recycling material. Result: Everything is sent straight to landfill.
Takeaway cups contain a polyethylene lining which prevents the liquid from being absorbed through the paper cup. However, it’s this lining that makes them non-recyclable.
Something about plastic takeaway coffee cups and their lids…
According to Plastic-free Mermaid:
This plastic lid is not just any plastic lid. It’s is #6, polystyrene. This is a DISASTER for human health because there are MANY peer-reviewed scientific studies showing that polystyrene leads to CANCER. Just to quote one published in Oxford University Press, called ‘Styrene Exposure and Risk of Cancer’ by James Huff and Peter F. Infante: “Long-term chemical carcinogenesis bioassays showed that styrene caused lung cancers in several strains of mice & mammary cancers in rats & styrene-7,8-oxide caused tumours of the forestomach in rats & mice & of the liver in mice…â€
Based on how plastic behaves we KNOW this lid was gonna leach its carcinogenic and estrogenic toxins into my cup via TWO pathways. First, we know plastic leaches toxins when HOT, so this lid snapped atop my steaming cup—it’s 100% leaching. Second, plastic is lipophilic (attracted to fat), so the nut milk choice makes my drank susceptible to the toxins once over because all those toxins head straight to that fatty milky goodness.
Also, these lids are designed to have a lifespan of the time it’s snapped atop our cup to the time we down our coffee on the way to work. So while its’ use is quick it will be on Earth long after my great great great great great great grandchildren. Seeping toxins & breaking into microplastics that will linger in our air, water, food, and bodies for eternity.
Kathryn Nelson
The problem with disposable single-use plastics is that they really have no benefit to us or the planet (they actually cause HARM to both).
Detpak have recently developed a technology that removes the plastic lining from takeaway coffee cups, leaving behind the paper which can be easily recycled!
RecycleMeâ„¢ lining enables hard-to-recycle packaging to be recycled. Unlike traditional plastic lining, the next-generation RecycleMeâ„¢ lining is easily removed from paper packaging when processed at a recycling mill.
This means that RecycleMeâ„¢ packaging can be recycled into paper through your kerbside collection or via a dedicated Collection Point. And paper can be recycled up to seven times. This is true recycling.
Detpak
Simply Cups also collect and recycle takeaway coffee cups now. They use new technologies to mix used cups with other materials to produce new products. You can set up a coffee cup collection with them, where they come and collect cups from your workplace, school or an event!
Where to Recycle Coffee Cups
Participating 7-Eleven stores around Australia have joined up with Simply Cups to recycle single-use coffee cups, coffee lids and drinking straws. You can bring your empty coffee cup to a 7-Eleven store for recycling.
Places in Sydney that recycle coffee cups include:
- Westfield Hurstville: They’ve installed three coffee cup separation station bins across the centre;
- Level 3: The Eatery – near Soul Origin
- Level 2: Near Cicco Bar
- Level 4: Rooftop Dining Area – near The Shed
- Macquarie Centre: They have coffee cup recycling stations on;
- Level 1: Blue level car park entry
- Level 2: Near Woolworths
- Level 3: Near H&M
- Level 3: Near TGI Fridays
- Westfield Sydney: New coffee cup collection points are located on;
- Level 2 Tower side: In front of Review
- Level 2 Tower side: Next to ZARA
- Level 2 Tower side: In front of Unimoni
- Level 3: In front of Little Sparrow
- Level 3: In front of Prada
- Level 3: Next to ZARA
- Level 4: In front of Ignazia
- Level 5: Next to YogaBar
- Level 5: In front of Adanos Grill
- Level 6: In front of Max Brenner
- Level 7: Next to Babylon
How to Recycle Coffee Cups
To recycle your coffee cups:
- Separate the lid from the coffee cup (and place lids into the lid section)
- Tip any leftover coffee into the tip section (middle section)
- Place the coffee cup into the trash section (outer section).
As always, this is not personal medical advice and we recommend that you talk with your doctor before trying or using any new products. I am not a doctor. All opinions expressed are my own personal thoughts and feelings of the products mentioned. Check with your doctor or health practitioner if you are uncertain about trying out any of the products, recipes or tips mentioned in this post.
Have you recycled single-use coffee cups before? Share in the comments below.
Lots of love,
🖤 Vanessa
Sources:
Coffee Cups. (Accessed: September 15, 2021). Recycling Near You. Retrieved from https://recyclingnearyou.com.au/coffee-cups/
Nelson, Kathryn. (January 4, 2021). Just 4 days in & I’ve already received my first submission to my 2021. Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/CJnbUiPjOWI/
How Simply Cups Works. (Accessed: September 15, 2021). Simply Cups. Retrieved from https://www.simplycups.com.au/how-it-works
Coffee Cup Waste Statistics in Australia. (July 24, 2020). Paul’s Rubbish. Retrieved from https://www.paulsrubbish.com.au/coffee-cup-waste-statistics-in-australia/
Single-Use Coffee Cups can Now be Recycled in Australia. (Accessed: September 15, 2021). BDAA. Retrieved from https://bdaa.com.au/single-use-coffee-cups-can-now-be-recycled-in-australia/
Bonsey, Justin. (Accessed: September). War on Waste: Fixing your coffee fix. About the ABC. Retrieved from https://about.abc.net.au/war-on-waste-fixing-your-coffee-fix/
Potter, Alison. (Updated: 14 June 2017). Are takeaway coffee cups recyclable?. Choice. Retrieved from https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/drinks/tea-and-coffee/articles/are-takeaway-coffee-cups-recyclable
Cut the Rubbish RecycleMeâ„¢. (Accessed: September 15, 2021). Detpak. Retrieved from https://www.detpak.com/recycleme/
Single-use Coffee Cups. (Accessed: September 15, 2021). Cleanup.org. Retrieved from https://www.cleanup.org.au/single-use-coffee-cups
Introducing Coffee Cup Recycling. (Accessed: September 15, 2021). Macquarie Centre. Retrieved from https://www.macquariecentre.com.au/sustainabilty/introducing-coffee-cup-recycling
Coffee cup recycling stations. (Accessed: September 15, 2021). Westfield. Retrieved from https://www.westfield.com.au/sydney/story/537EWUgdu86kHOBxxpNFcM/coffee-cup-recycling-stations-now-available
